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The lost pigs: From wild boar to domestic pigs in Norway (stable isotopes)

The lost pigs: From wild boar to domestic pigs in Norway (stable isotopes). Jørgen Rosvold. NTNU - Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Section of Natural History Biologist Studied archaeology and social anthropology

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The lost pigs: From wild boar to domestic pigs in Norway (stable isotopes)

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  1. The lost pigs:From wild boar to domestic pigs in Norway (stable isotopes)

  2. Jørgen Rosvold • NTNU - Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Section of Natural History • Biologist • Studied archaeology and social anthropology • Interests: mammals, conservation biology, immigration history and human-nature relationship

  3. PhD-project • ”Climate and human driven changes in large ungulate populations during the Norwegian Holocene” • The lost pigs: an investigation investigating the prehistoric distribution and extinction of wild boar in Norway • Holocene changes in moose and red deer distribution boundaries • Genetic and phenotypic changes in Norwegian red deer during the Holocene

  4. Background • Wild boar is considered and exotic and unwanted species in Norway • Lots of subfossil bone finds • Changing attitudes • What was its habitat? • When and why did it disappear? • What limits its northward spread?

  5. Problem: • How to differentiate wild boar from early domestic pigs? • Norwegian wild boar were relatively small • Domestic pigs were very similar to wild boar even in the Middle Ages • Stable isotopes? • Done successfully in East Asia: - Minagawa et al. 2005, Guan et al. 2007, Hu et al. 2009

  6. Study design • Me, Duncan Halley, Anne Karin Hufthammer and Reidar Andersen • Laboratory of Prof. Masao Minagawa in Japan • Stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon • 41 samples from wild boar/pigs • 15 control samples from red deer (Cervus elaphus) • 7100 – 500 cal. BP • Mesolithic samples of undoubted wild boar provides the baseline

  7. Sites • Skipshelleren: • Western Norway • Dated 7500-1800 BP • One of the largest and best stratified sites with bone material • 7 stratigraphic layers • 956 bones of boar/pigs, 10635 of red deer

  8. Sites • Geitalemen: • Iron Age (one bone) • Western Norway • Medieval sites: • Bergen (coastal city, western Norway) • Hamar Cathedral (inland church ruins)

  9. Results • Results from 32 of the samples of boar/pig and 15 of red deer

  10. Results

  11. Results

  12. Results

  13. Results

  14. Discussion • 4 diet profiles: • Wild boar diet • Free-range domestic pig diet • Coastal city pig diet • ”Holy pig” diet (Killer pig diet)

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