August
28
/ 2013
New research published in the journal Nature Communications has suggested that Stone Age hunter-gatherers in Europe may have been trading pigs with settled farmers as early as 5,000 BC. It is the first evidence of live animal trading between the indigenous, nomadic Ertebolle hunters of northern Europe and settled farmers who originally came from Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Evidence for the trade in pig came from an analysis of DNA from pig remains found at different Ertebolle settlements. They found the swine had maternal ancestors from the Middle East, like the domestic pigs of their farmer neighbours on the other side of the Elbe River, which runs through central Europe. The hunter-gatherers normally ate seals and wild boar found on
