Changes in the size of the domestic and wild pig in the territory of Poland from the Neolitic to the Middle Ages

Abstract

Changes over time in six bone dimensions and height in the withers in domestic and wild pigs have been examined on the basis of materials from 120 archaeological sites in Poland. It has been established that over a period of about 5000 years, the dimensions of the skeleton of the domestic pig have fallen more than those of the skeleton of the wild pig. The probable formative factors of the phenotype of the domesticated pig are discussed (restriction of locomotion, impoverishment of diet), as well as genetic factors (selection favouring flesh mass rather than skeletal mass). Individual morphological characteristics diminished to varying degrees, leading to changes in the proportions of the skeleton. This indicates that particular elements of the skeleton reacted differently to the same set of factors. No clear geographical variation has been noted in the characteristics examined in domesticated and wild pigs in the territory of Poland. However, a geographical differentiation has been observed between domestic pigs from Polish territory and those from other areas in the withers height. From the Neolithic through to the Middle Ages, there was a steady tendency towards the occurrence of smaller domestic pigs in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe. Pigs in Central Europe were larger than those in Southern and Northern Europe. For variously denominated dimensions of varying orders of magnitude, a common abstract scale has been constructed. The range of variability characteristic of domestic and wild pigs, and of transitional forms, which are marked on this scale facilitate the segregation of the bones of these forms in archaeozoological practice.