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Hunting before herding
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, 17(2 February):e0262557. PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss 2, p e0262557 (2022), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Suids (Sus sp.) played a crucial role in the transition to farming in northern Europe and, like in many regions, in the Netherlands pig husbandry became an important subsistence activity at Neolithic sites. Yet little is known about wild boar palaeoecology and hunting in the Late Mesolithic Netherlands with which to contextualize this transition. This paper presents the first multi-proxy analysis of archaeological suid remains in the Netherlands. It explores human-suid interactions at the Swifterbant culture sites of Hardinxveld-Giessendam Polderweg and De Bruin (5450–4250 BC) through biometric analysis, estimation of age-at-death, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. The results reveal targeted hunting of adult wild boar in the Late Mesolithic (5450–4850 BC), with a possible shift over time towards more juveniles. The wild boar in this period are demonstrated to be of comparably large size to contemporary northern European populations and exhibiting a wide range of dietary regimes. In the final occupational period (4450–4250 BC), small suids are present, possibly domestic pigs, but there is no evidence of pig management. This study demonstrates that the nature of human-suid interactions varied over time, which may have been connected to changing environmental conditions, human mobility, and wild boar behaviour. This study also contributes the first biometric and dietary baseline for mid-Holocene wild boar in the Netherlands.
- Subjects :
- Composite Particles
Teeth
Swine
Sus scrofa
Mesolithic Period
Stone Age
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Isotopes
Medicine and Health Sciences
Animal Husbandry
History, Ancient
Animal Management
Netherlands
Mammals
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
Physics
Stable Isotopes
Eukaryota
Geology
Agriculture
Trophic Interactions
Community Ecology
Archaeology
Vertebrates
Physical Sciences
Medicine
Anatomy
Research Article
Freshwater Environments
Atoms
Science
Rivers
Animals
Humans
Hunting
Domestic Animals
Particle Physics
Nitrogen Isotopes
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Aquatic Environments
Geologic Time
Bodies of Water
Jaw
Amniotes
Earth Sciences
Zoology
Digestive System
Head
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 17
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLOS-One
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ae85ddab82eaa2525dc3f8c777b7d2fa