Chapter 4: A history of pig domestication45
sub-species (Sus s. moupinensis, see Chapter 1). At Xinglongwa,
all pig remains display a wild phenotype, although the mere
presence of complete specimens in human burials clearly sug-
gests a symbolic use in the Neolithic cultures of Northern
China. Finally, the earliest domestic phenotypes were evidenced
at Jiahu, in the Yellow River region, from at least 6600 BC,
re-establishing the region as one of the earliest centres of pig
domestication.
Since this early Neolithic domestication, pigs have played
a major role in the economic, social, and symbolic systems of
China. However, the interaction between the history of pig
domestication and transformations in Chinese society has never
been fully explored. To investigate the role of pig farming in the
rise of social complexification in ancient China, Cucchi et al.
(2016) combined analysis of dental GMM and stable carbon
and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen on a sequential
archaeological record of pigs in the rural village of Xiawanggang
(Henan Province), covering the rise of state-like societies
from Late Neolithic Yangshao (4600–3400 BC) up to the later
Chinese Empire and the Han dynasties (200 BC–200 AD).
These combined data clearly suggest an intensification of the
domestication process during the Late Neolithic Yangshao
(4600–3400 BC), likely promoted by greater selective pressure
and/or better herd control that mitigated against wild introgres-
sion. Since the Late Neolithic, despite the political and economic
turnover over time, pig husbandry in Xiawanggang changed
gradually over 5000 years. This change in husbandry regimes is
characterized by a gradual increase of millet foddering and ani-
mal protein intake from domestic refuse and potentially faeces,
suggesting the resilience of pig husbandry to cultural and politi-
cal changes in this part of China.
The only shift in this gradual trend was detected during the
Longshan phase (2600–1900 BC), a period considered by many
scholars as the catalyst of the social complexification in China.
At that time in Xiawanggang, very small-sized pigs with a diet
relying on millet and household scraps appeared. From several
exploratory hypotheses, the possibility of anti-elite pig produc-
tion managed at the family level was explored, as a means to
resist incorporation into a new economic model promoting
intensified domestic production.
Island South East Asian Sus Diversity and Austronesian Dispersal
In Island South East Asia, pigs have been used as a proxy for estab-
lishing the possible origins and dispersal routes of Austronesian
voyagers into Oceania (Larson et al. 2007b; Dobney et al. 2008;
Cucchi et al. 2009).
Extant species of Sus from ISEA are more diverse than any-
where else in the world and include Sus barbatus, S. verrucosus,
S. celebensis, S. philippensis, S. vittatus and S. scrofa, all of which
have been found in archaeological sites across the region. Wild
species further include S. cebifrons, S. ahoenobarbus and S. oli
veri, but so far these have not been definitively recognized in an
archaeological context. Modern ISEA Sus present a large, and
continuous, variation in their molar size and clear molar shape
differences (Cucchi et al. 2009). Three clear groups appeared
in the shape analyses: one comprising the Sundaic wild pigs
(S. barbatus, S. verrucosus, and S. vittatus) and S. scrofa from
Taiwan and Sumatra; a second represented by S. celebensis and
S. philippensis; and a third group including S. scrofa from New
Guinea – a structure entirely congruent with the existing mito-
chondrial DNA phylogenies (Lucchini et al. 2005; Larson et al.
2007b). Using this modern variability as a baseline, archaeo-
logical specimens from Liang Bua, Flores (Larson et al. 2007b),
Niah and Lobang Kudih caves, Sarawak (Malaysia) (Cucchi
et al. 2009) revealed that all ‘wild’ Sus scrofa specimens found
east of the Wallace Line are descended from introduced domes-
ticated Sus scrofa, and possess a very clear genetic and molar
shape signature likely linked to the eastwards dispersal of their
Austronesian ancestors into Near and Remote Oceania.Other Evidence for Human-mediated Dispersal of
Domestic Pigs
Geometric morphometric analyses of domestic pigs using mor-
phometric analyses only (Duval et al. 2015), combined GMM
and aDNA (Ottoni et al. 2013; Evin et al. 2015b), or combined
GMM, aDNA and isotopic analyses (Balasse et al. 2016) have
further explored and evaluated the dispersal of domestic pigs by
humans through time.Bronze Age in Anatolia
Larson et al. (2007a) showed initially that domestic pigs of
European ancestry were introduced to Anatolia sometime
between 700 BC and 1500 AD. Although their data set was
rather small, they concluded that these European domestic pigs
not only replaced the domestic pigs of Near Eastern descent
that arrived in Europe during the westward expansion of the
Neolithic, but also then replaced the indigenous domestic pigs
of the Near East as they were moved (presumably by later Bronze
and Iron Age cultures) eastwards (Larson et al. 2007a). A sub-
sequent larger study of archaeological pig remains dating from
the pre-pottery Neolithic to the Middle Ages from Anatolia
(deploying both mitochondrial DNA and molar size and shape
analyses) confirmed the date of introduction of domestic pigs
with European ancestry in Asia Minor as middle–late Bronze
Age (Ottoni et al. 2013). By the fifth century AD, the European
domestic pig lineage appears to have completely replaced the
autochthonous Sus population, potentially a direct result of
the major demographic and societal changes that occurred
across the region during the Bronze and Iron Ages. This popu-
lation replacement was accompanied by strong morphological
changes in pigs, with the European domestic pigs possessing
proportionally smaller teeth and a distinctive shape compared
to the native pigs. The likely geographic origin of the European
domestic pigs introduced to Anatolia remains unclear, as does
whether they could represent evidence for large-scale human
migration and/or widening trade and exchange networks. A
similar scenario has also been observed in the Southern Levant
(Meiri et al. 2013) and in Romania (Evin et al. 2015b).Pig Domestication in Romania
From ~3900 BC, it seems that the European wild boar mitochon-
drial aDNA lineages were incorporated into all domestic swine
populations (Larson et al. 2007a), either by the mechanism.00612:31:36