title: The Biarzo case in northern Italy: is the temporal dynamic of swine mitochondrial DNA lineages in Europe related to domestication?
abstract: Genetically-based reconstructions of the history of pig domestication in Europe are based on two major pillars: 1) the temporal changes of mitochondrial DNA lineages are related to domestication; 2) Near Eastern haplotypes which appeared and then disappeared in some sites across Europe are genetic markers of the first Near Eastern domestic pigs. We typed a small but informative fragment of the mitochondrial DNA in 23 Sus scrofa samples from a site in north eastern Italy (Biarzo shelter) which provides a continuous record across a ≈6,000 year time frame from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. We additionally carried out several radiocarbon dating. We found that a rapid mitochondrial DNA turnover occurred during the Mesolithic, suggesting that substantial changes in the composition of pig mitochondrial lineages can occur naturally across few millennia independently of domestication processes. Moreover, so-called Near Eastern haplotypes were present here at least two millennia before the arrival of Neolithic package in the same area. Consequently, we recommend a re-evaluation of the previous idea that Neolithic farmers introduced pigs domesticated in the Near East, and that Mesolithic communities acquired domestic pigs via cultural exchanges, to include the possibility of a more parsimonious hypothesis of local domestication in Europe.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vai
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Sibelle Torres
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Vilaça
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romandini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benazzo
authors.affiliation: Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale, Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Visentini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Modolo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertolini
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: MacQueen
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caramelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lari
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertorelle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D007558:Italy; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial