Fig 12 - uploaded by Liora Kolska Horwitz
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1. Current distribution of Sus scrofa lybica in Israel and the West Bank (areas shaded in grey), and the location of the four populations studied here
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The main objectives of this work are to distinguish the wild and domestic form of Sus from the Metal Age at the El Portalón site, to determine the osteometric variation within the suid population in the habitat context found in the different levels of the El Portalón site, in comparison with the change in pig size from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the context of the Iberian Peninsula, and to infer pig management systems through zooarchaeological analysis. A total of 280 suid bone remains have been analysed from the Chalcolithic level (101 bone remains) and the Bronze Age level (177 bone remains) recovered from the El Portalón site. A decrease in pig size from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age has been observed, similarly to pig populations from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in sites found on the Iberian Peninsula. Although scant data are available, a move towards an exploitation of older individuals and a slight increase in females compared to males is observed from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age in the pig population found at the El Portalón site. These suggestions correspond to pig management from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the Iberian Peninsula context.
Near Eastern wild boars possess a characteristic DNA signature. Unexpectedly, wild boars from Israel have the DNA sequences of European wild boars and domestic pigs. To understand how this anomaly evolved, we sequenced DNA from ancient and modern pigs from Israel. Pigs from Late Bronze Age (until ca. 1150 BCE) in Israel shared haplotypes of modern and ancient Near Eastern pigs. European haplotypes became dominant only during the Iron Age (ca. 900 BCE). This raises the possibility that European pigs were brought to the region by the Sea Peoples who migrated to the Levant at that time. Then, a complete genetic turnover took place, most likely because of repeated admixture between local and introduced European domestic pigs that went feral. Severe population bottlenecks likely accelerated this process. Introductions by humans have strongly affected the phylogeography of wild animals, and interpretations of phylogeography based on modern DNA alone should be taken with caution.
