Like a pig out of water: seaborne spread of domestic pigs in Southern Italy and Sardinia during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

ABSTRACT: Southern Italy has a long history of human occupation and passage of different cultures since the Early Holocene. Repeated, ancient introductions of pigs in several geographic areas in Europe make it difficult to understand pig translocation and domestication in Italy. The archeozoological record may provide fundamental information on this, hence shedding light on peopling and on trading among different ancient cultures in the Mediterranean. Yet, because of the scanty nature of the fossil record, ancient remains from human-associated animals are somewhat rare. Fortunately, ancient DNA analysis as applied to domestic species proved to be a powerful tool in revealing human migrations. Herein, we analyzed 80-bp fragment of mitochondrial DNA control region from 27 Sus scrofa ancient samples re

SUBMITTER: Lega C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5234479 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature