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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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Sites

• Geitalemen:- Iron Age (one bone)- Western Norway

• Medieval sites:- Bergen (coastal city, western Norway)- Hamar Cathedral (inland church ruins)

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Results

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

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Results

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Results

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Results

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Results

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Discussion

• 4 diet profiles:

1. Wild boar diet

2. Free-range domestic pig diet

3. Coastal city pig diet

4. ”Holy pig” diet

(Killer pig diet)