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Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of Neolithic into Europe

Larson, Greger and Albarella, Umberto and Dobney, Keith and Rowley-Conwy, Peter and Schibler, Jörg and Tresset, Anne and Vigne, Jean-Denis and Edwards, Ceiridwen J. and Schlumbaum, Angela and Dinu, Alexandru and Balaçsescu, Adrian and Dolman, Gaynor and Tagliacozzo, Antonio and Manaseryan, Ninna and Miracle, Preston and Van Wijngaarden-Bakker, Louise and Masseti, Marco and Bradley, Daniel G. and Cooper, Alan. (2007) Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of Neolithic into Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104 (39). pp. 15276-15281.

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Abstract

The Neolithic Revolution began 11,000 years ago in the Near East and preceded a westward migration into Europe of distinctive cultural groups and their agricultural economies, including domesticated animals and plants. Despite decades of research, no consensus has emerged about the extent of admixture between the indigenous and exotic populations or the degree to which the appearance of specific components of the ``Neolithic cultural package`` in Europe reflects truly independent development. Here, through the use of mitochondrial DNA from 323 modern and 221 ancient pig specimens sampled across western Eurasia, we demonstrate that domestic pigs of Near Eastern ancestry were definitely introduced into Europe during the Neolithic (potentially along two separate routes), reaching the Paris Basin by at least the early 4th millennium B.C. Local European wild boar were also domesticated by this time, possibly as a direct consequence of the introduction of Near Eastern domestic pigs. Once domesticated, European pigs rapidly replaced the introduced domestic pigs of Near Eastern origin throughout Europe. Domestic pigs formed a key component of the Neolithic Revolution, and this detailed genetic record of their origins reveals a complex set of interactions and processes during the spread of early farmers into Europe.
Faculties and Departments:05 Faculty of Science > Departement Umweltwissenschaften > Ehemalige Einheiten Umweltwissenschaften > Archäozoologie (Schibler)
UniBasel Contributors:Schlumbaum, Angela and Schibler, Jörg M.
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:National Academy of Sciences
ISSN:0027-8424
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:English
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Last Modified:02 Oct 2017 10:39
Deposited On:22 Mar 2012 13:39

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