Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe.
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.
Larson
Greger
G
Department of Zoology, Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Albarella
Umberto
U
Dobney
Keith
K
Rowley-Conwy
Peter
P
Schibler
Jörg
J
Tresset
Anne
A
Vigne
Jean-Denis
JD
Edwards
Ceiridwen J
CJ
Schlumbaum
Angela
A
Dinu
Alexandru
A
Balaçsescu
Adrian
A
Dolman
Gaynor
G
Tagliacozzo
Antonio
A
Manaseryan
Ninna
N
Miracle
Preston
P
Van Wijngaarden-Bakker
Louise
L
Masseti
Marco
M
Bradley
Daniel G
DG
Cooper
Alan
A
D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D001699:Biometry; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D005843:Geography; D049690:History, Ancient; D008390:Markov Chains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D034421:Sus scrofa; D013552:Swine
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial