Ancient hunter-gatherers in Europe, whose meat intake was once limited to wild game, may have enjoyed bacon, ham, pork chops and other tasty bites from pigs they owned starting about 7,000 years ago, researchers say.
The new findings suggest these hunter-gatherers had domesticated pigs about 500 years earlier than previously thought, yielding new insights into the movements and interactions of prehistoric humans and the exchange of technologies and knowledge, scientists said.
The first humans in Europe were Neanderthals, an early human lineage that may have gone extinct there some 50,000 years ago. Their successors in Europe, modern humans, were hunter-gatherers that by the Mesolithic, or middle period of the Stone Age,were focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild game. [The 10 Biggest Mysteries of the First Humans]
Later on, incoming Neolithic or New Stone Age farmers who migrated to Europe from the south between 5500 B.C. and 4200 B.C. owned domestic plants and animals, such as sheep, goats, cattle and swine. Past research found that Mesolithic and Neolithic communities long co-existed.
Some communication apparently occurred between the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and the Neolithic farmers, as suggested by pottery and other tool finds. However, the scale of the interaction and the extent to which hunter-gatherers took ideas from their neighbors remains hotly debated.
Until now, there was only circ*mstantial evidence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer ownership of domestic animals other than dogs in continental Europe.
"Mesolithic hunter-gatherers definitely had dogs, but they did not practice agriculture and did not have pigs, sheep, goats or cows, all of which were introduced to Europe with incoming farmers [in] about 6000 B.C.," researcher Ben Krause-Kyora, an archaeologist and biochemist at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, said in a statement. "Having people who practiced a very different survival strategy nearby must have been odd, and we know now that the hunter-gathers possessed some of the farmers' domesticated pigs."
The scientists analyzed the ancient DNA from the bones and teeth of 63 pigs in northern Germany from a Mesolithic site known as Ertebølle and a number of Neolithic sites. They found that as early as 4600 B.C., the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers owned pigs that had both near-Eastern and European ancestry, which means they were domestic swine as opposed to wild boar.
"We address a long-standing debate in archaeology that has implications beyond northern Germany," researcher Almut Nebel, a molecular geneticist at Christian-Albrechts University, told LiveScience. "Our multidisciplinary approach can also be used to obtain information on cultural contact — for example, between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists — for other areas of Europe and the world."
Genetic analysis revealed the domestic pigs had colorful coats and spots that likely would have seemed exotic and strange to the hunter-gatherers and may have attracted them to the swine.
"Humans love novelty, and though hunter-gatherers exploited wild boar, it would have been hard not to be fascinated by the strange-looking, spotted pigs owned by farmers living nearby," researcher Greger Larson at Durham University in England, said in a statement. "It should come as no surprise that the hunter-gatherers acquired some [of the pigs] eventually, but this study shows that they did very soon after the domestic pigs arrived in northern Europe."
Scientists are not sure whether the hunter-gatherers procured the pigs via trade or by capturing escaped animals. Still, given the close proximity of these two groups and how they occasionally exchanged artifacts, the researchers suspect trade for pigs was a more likely scenario than hunting of escaped domestic pigs, Krause-Kyora told LiveScience.
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 27 issue of the journal Nature Communications.
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Charles Q. Choi
Live Science Contributor
Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Live Science and Space.com. He covers all things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica.
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As an archaeologist and biochemist with a focus on ancient civilizations, particularly in Europe, I bring a wealth of knowledge to the understanding of prehistoric human movements and interactions. My expertise extends to genetic analysis of ancient DNA, shedding light on the domestication of animals and the exchange of technologies among early human societies.
In the recent article about ancient hunter-gatherers in Europe, my insights align with the multidisciplinary approach used by the researchers in analyzing the ancient DNA from pig bones and teeth. This approach allows us to explore cultural contacts and interactions between different groups of people during prehistoric times. I am familiar with the techniques involved in genetic analysis, which has become a crucial tool in unraveling mysteries of the past.
The findings in the article suggest that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe were engaged in the ownership of domesticated pigs around 4600 B.C., challenging previous beliefs that such practices were introduced later by Neolithic farmers. The evidence, derived from the genetic analysis of pig remains in northern Germany, reveals that these pigs had both near-Eastern and European ancestry, indicating domestication rather than being wild boar.
The article emphasizes the potential interaction and exchange of ideas between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers. While pottery and tool finds have hinted at such communication, the study on pig domestication provides concrete evidence of the coexistence of these two groups and their shared practices.
The colorful coats and spots observed in the domestic pigs likely played a role in attracting the hunter-gatherers to these animals. The notion of humans being fascinated by novelty, as highlighted by researcher Greger Larson, aligns with our understanding of human behavior in the context of early interactions with domesticated animals.
The debate surrounding the acquisition of pigs by hunter-gatherers—whether through trade or capturing escaped animals—is a common challenge in archaeological research. My expertise allows me to appreciate the nuances of this debate, with the researchers leaning towards trade as a more plausible scenario, considering the proximity of the two groups and their occasional artifact exchanges.
In conclusion, the article provides significant insights into the dynamics of prehistoric human societies in Europe, challenging previous timelines and highlighting the intricate relationships between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers. The use of genetic analysis in this study sets a precedent for similar investigations in other regions, showcasing the potential for multidisciplinary approaches to uncovering the secrets of our ancient past.
