title: Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe.
abstract: Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Ertebølle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Ertebølle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Ertebølle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.
authors: Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors: Ben
authors: B
authors: Krause-Kyora
authors: Cheryl
authors: C
authors: Makarewicz
authors: Allowen
authors: A
authors: Evin
authors: Linus Girdland
authors: LG
authors: Flink
authors: Keith
authors: K
authors: Dobney
authors: Greger
authors: G
authors: Larson
authors: Sönke
authors: S
authors: Hartz
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Schreiber
authors: Claus
authors: C
authors: von Carnap-Bornheim
authors: Nicole
authors: N
authors: von Wurmb-Schwark
authors: Almut
authors: A
authors: Nebel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000235:genetics*; D001106:Archaeology; D020029:Base Pairing / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005060:Europe; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
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