European Hunter-Gatherers Had Domesticated Pigs Earlier Than Thought

National Geographic ^ | August 27, 2013 | Ker Than

[SunkenCiv]

Domesticated pigs were present in northern Germany around 4600 B.C., some 500 years earlier than previously thought, new fossil and DNA evidence reveals.

The finding, detailed in this week's issue of the journal Nature Communications, is significant because the people living in that part of Europe at the time were Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who primarily lived off of wild game.

These people, known as the Ertebølle culture, kept domesticated dogs as hunting companions, but it would be several hundreds of years before they began raising animals and crops for food.

One hypothesis for how the Ertebølle came to acquire the pigs is that they traded for them with their farmer neighbors to the south...

Using DNA analysis and tooth morphology comparison techniques, the scientists analyzed the bones and teeth of 63 pigs found at Ertebølle settlements in northern Germany.

The results showed that some of the pigs were domesticated animals that had both Near Eastern and European ancestry and which were similar to pigs bred by Neolithic farmers living in central Europe.

[SunkenCiv]

[can't use the cool image, it's Getty]

[SunkenCiv]

[GreyFriar]

So the Germans were getting the wurst of it earlier than anyone thought.

[tumblindice]

That’ll do schweinehund.

[1010RD]

Domesticated pigs were present in northern Germany around 4600 B.C.

So it didn't start with the Nazis then?

PS the photo is awesome.

[Gay State Conservative]

Hang on...I thought that all the noteworthy human advances were made by African and moslems and that we Europeans were just knuckledraggers with slopped foreheads until about 150 years ago.

[blam]

" Hang on...I thought that all the noteworthy human advances were made by African and moslems and that we Europeans were just knuckledraggers with slopped foreheads until about 150 years ago. "

The Africans domesticated ZERO animals.

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the reference to the cool photo, and for piquing my curiosity enough for me to click on the link.