Age and season of pig slaughter at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) as detected through a new system for recording tooth wear

Wright, Elizabeth; Viner-Daniels, Sarah; Pearson, Mike Parker; Albarella, Umberto

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.09.009

Cited by 46 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Demographic profiles shed light on the ages and sexes of animals that herders and hunters killed and deposited on-site, allowing scholars to track changes in exploitation strategies (e.g., Bökönyi 1969;Meadow 1989). Methods for assessing age-at-death in pigs are decades old at this point (Bull and Payne 1982;Grant 1975;Silver 1969), but recent papers have improved analytical precision using data from tooth eruption/wear patterns and epiphyseal fusion (Legge 2013;Lemoine et al 2014;Wright et al 2014;Zeder et al 2015). These techniques offer exciting new possibilities for documenting the age and sex composition of exploited suid populations.…”

Section: Demographic Profilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia

Price

Hongo

2019

J Archaeol Res

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The multifaceted behavioral and ecological flexibility of pigs and wild boar (Sus scrofa) makes study of their domestication both complex and of broad anthropological significance. While recognizing contextual contingency, we propose several "pathways" to pig domestication. We also highlight the diversity of pig management practices. This diversity complicates zooarchaeological detection of management techniques employed by humans in the early steps of domestication, and we stress the need for multiple lines of evidence. Drawing together the evidence, we review early Holocene human-Sus relations in Japan, Cyprus, northern Mesopotamia, and China. Independent pig domestication occurred in northern Mesopotamia by c. 7500 cal. BC and China by c. 6000 cal. BC. In northern Mesopotamia pig domestication followed a combined "commensal and prey" pathway that evolved into loose "extensive" husbandry that persisted as the dominant form of pig management for several millennia. There are not yet enough zooarchaeological data to speculate on the early stages of pig domestication in China, but once that process began, it involved more intensive management (relying on pens and fodder), leading to more rapid selection for phenotypes associated with domestication. Finally, pig domestication "failed" to take off in Japan. We suggest this was related to a number of factors including the lack of domestic crops and, potentially, cultural barriers to conceiving animals as property.

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Section: Demographic Profilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia

Price

Hongo

2019

J Archaeol Res

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“…Current scholarly consensus is that the most significant astronomical event enmeshed in the architecture of the megalithic phases of Stonehenge is the midwinter sunset, particularly given that the approach from the Avenue leads to a view in this direction (Sims 2006;Ruggles 2009). Midwinter feasting is also strongly evidenced at Durrington Walls, a site intimately linked to the Late Neolithic monumental phases of Stonehenge (Wright et al 2014;Craig et al 2015). West Amesbury's pits appear to demonstrate repeated visits by sizeable groups to the Stonehenge and Avon valley landscape in the early winter over half a millennium before this, and that these visits included the consumption of excess animal stock alongside a range of other activities.…”

Section: Foreshadowing Stonehengementioning

confidence: 94%

Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire

Roberts

Barclay²,

Bishop

et al. 2020

Archaeological Journal

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Excavations on the southeastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a significant period, in late autumn or winter. Selected remnants of craft-working and consumption were deposited in pits, before deliberate infilling. These depositions repeatedly memorialised activity on the hillside at a time of contemporary activity elsewhere on King Barrow Ridge and at the future site of Stonehenge. Middle Neolithic pits are present in significant numbers across King Barrow Ridge, and alongside pits in the Durrington area, form one of the densest concentrations of such activity in the region. Long distance mobility is suggested by the possible Irish origins of the inhumation, the first Middle Neolithic individual excavated in the environs of Stonehenge. Whilst of significance for understanding the Middle Neolithic in the WHS and the region, this research also hints at the roots of Late Neolithic monumentalisation of this landscape.

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“…For tooth ageing the works of Payne (1973) and Grant (1982) are widely used and new methodological developments have also been put forward (e.g. Jones and Sadler, 2012; Lemoine et al, 2014;Wright et al, 2014). Biometrical analysis has hugely benefitted from the standardisation of measurements proposed by von den Driesch (1976) for mammals and birds, and Morales and Rosenlud (1979) for fishes.…”

Section: Zooarchaeology: Methods and Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooarchaeology in the twenty-first century

Albarella

2017

Oxford Handbooks Online

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After more than a century of growth, zooarchaeology has started fulfilling its full potential. The recognition of the centrality of zooarchaeological investigations in archaeology represents the most important, and hopefully enduring, development. Zooarchaeology remains, however, ultimately inter-disciplinary and cannot be pigeon-holed within either Science or Humanities. Zooarchaeologists use a multitude of approaches, and contribute to all aspects of investigations of past human life, ranging from social structure, to economy, diet, ecology, ideology, and religion. The discipline has developed a set of well-established methods, whose widespread use enhances data comparability. It is, however, important that the research strategies and approaches of zooarchaeologists remain dynamic and open to constant scrutiny. Zooarchaeology is today highly international, enjoying a healthy level of open communication. There is, however, the need to reach out to areas where the discipline is still underdeveloped, as those will generate new stimuli as well as research opportunities.

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Age and season of pig slaughter at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) as detected through a new system for recording tooth wear

Cited by 46 publications

References 17 publications

The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia

The Archaeology of Pig Domestication in Eurasia

Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire

Zooarchaeology in the twenty-first century

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