Early evidence for pig domestication (8,000 cal. BP) in the Lower Yangtze, South China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wang, Jiajing; Tang, Yiyi; Zheng, Yunfei; Jiang, Leping; Ma, Xiaolin; Hou, Yanfeng; Sun, Guoping
• 署名单位: Shanghai University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-10555
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2507123122
• 发表日期: 2025-06-17
• 关键词: dental calculus; northern; microremains; subsistence; consumption; questions; plants; sites; foods; river

摘要

The domestication of pigs (Sus scrofa) has had profound socioeconomic and ecological consequences. Although pigs are believed to have been independently domesticated in South China, the timing and initial mechanisms of this process remain debated. This study presents a microfossil analysis of pig dental calculus from two early Neolithic sites (8,200 to 7,000 cal. BP). Analyses of starch, phytolith, and parasite remains indicate that pigs consumed human- associated foods and waste, including cooked starchy plants and human whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) eggs, likely derived from food preparation and fecally contaminated materials. Identified plant taxa include acorns (Fagaceae), rice of variation in dental metrics further indicate the coexistence of both domestic and wild populations. Together, these lines of evidence point to multiple modes of human-pig interaction, including early domestic pigs under human management, pigs scavenging near settlements, and free- ranging individuals foraging beyond human influence. Pig commensal and prey pathways, in parallel with the development of rice cultivation and sedentary lifeways. This study also demonstrates the value of dental calculus analysis for revealing early human-animal relationships before the appearance of clear morphological markers of domestication in the archaeological record.