Bones geometric morphometrics illustrate 10th millennium cal. BP domestication of autochthonous Cypriot wild boar (Sus scrofa circeus nov. ssp)

Abstract

Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherers from the Near East introduced wild boars (Sus scrofa) to Cyprus, with the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) settlers hunting the wild descendants of these boars. However, the geographic origin of the Cypriot boar and how they were integrated into the earliest forms of pig husbandry remain unsolved. Here, we present data on 11,000 to 9000 cal. BP Sus scrofa from the PPN sites of Klimonas and Shillourokambos. We compared them to contemporaneous populations from the Near East and to Neolithic and modern populations in Corsica, exploring their origin and evolution using biosystematic signals from molar teeth and heel bones (calcanei), using 2D and 3D geometric morphometrics. We found that the Cypriot PPN lineage of Sus scrofa originates from the Northern Levant. Yet, their phenotypic idiosyncrasy suggest that they evolved into an insular sub-species that we named Sus scrofa circeus, referring to Circe, the metamorphosis goddess that changed Ulysses companions into pigs. The phenotypic homogeneity among PPNA Klimonas wild boars and managed populations of PPNB Shillourokambos suggests that local domestication has been undertaken on the endemic S. s. circeus, strengthening the idea that Cyprus was integrated into the core region of animal domestication.

Are petrous bones just a repository of ancient biomolecules? Investigating biosystematic signals in sheep petrous bones using 3D geometric morphometrics

“…The phenotype of the Corsican mouflon, intermediate between the domestic and SWA mouflon, supports recent GMM cranial studies on Australian feral boars descended from 19th century introduced pigs, showing that the feralization of a domestic population does not lead to the return of a wild phenotype (Neaux et al, 2020). However, the phenotype of the Corsican mouflon could also be related to an insular rather than a domestication syndrome, as shown for the now extinct endemic wild boar of Cyprus introduced by Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers (Cucchi et al, 2021;Vigne et al, 2009).…”

The effect of captivity on craniomandibular and calcaneal ontogenetic trajectories in wild boar

“…Our results provide evidence that captivity influences the morphology of craniomandibular and postcranial structures of wild boar, as wild specimens are significantly smaller than captive The more physically constrained nature of the calcaneus and the direct influence of mobility reduction on this bone may explain these specificities. These results provide new methodological perspectives for bioarchaeological approaches as they imply that the plastic mark of captivity can be observed in juvenile specimens as well as in adults (Cucchi et al, 2021;Harbers, Neaux, et al, 2020;Neaux, Blanc, Ortiz, Locatelli, Laurens, et al, 2021;.…”

“…The more physically constrained nature of the calcaneus and the direct influence of mobility reduction on this bone may explain these specificities. These results provide new methodological perspectives for bioarchaeological approaches as they imply that the plastic mark of captivity can be observed in juvenile specimens as well as in adults (Cucchi et al, 2021; Harbers, Neaux, et al, 2020; Neaux, Blanc, Ortiz, Locatelli, Laurens, et al, 2021; Neaux, Blanc, Ortiz, Locatelli, Schafberg, et al, 2021). Further studies need to explore the morphological integration during growth in captive conditions for both craniomandibular and postcranial structures to decipher the role of developmental and functional correlates between structures in generating the differences observed in our study.…”

Archaeophenomics of ancient domestic plants and animals using geometric morphometrics : a review

“…Taxa References Mammals Pig (Cucchi et al, 2008(Cucchi et al, , 2011(Cucchi et al, , 2016(Cucchi et al, , 2021Dobney et al, 2008;Bartosiewicz et al, 2013;Krause-Kyora et al, 2013;Ottoni et al, 2013;Duval et al, 2015Duval et al, , 2018Evin, Flink, et al, 2015;Balasse et al, 2016;Frémondeau et al, 2017;Price & Evin, 2017;Bopp-Ito et al, 2018;Marom et al, 2019) Dog (Drake & Klingenberg, 2008;Drake et al, 2015Drake et al, , 2017Daza Perea, 2017;Geiger et al, 2017;Fisher, 2019;Ameen et al, 2019;Manin & Evin, 2020;Schoenebeck et al, 2021) Caprines (sheep and goat) (Haruda, 2017;Pöllath et al, 2018Pöllath et al, , 2019Haruda et al, 2019;Colominas et al, 2019) Equids (horse and donkey) (Seetah et al, 2016;Cucchi et al, 2017; Grapevine (Bacilieri et al, 2017;Bonhomme et al, 2020;Bouby et al, 2018Bouby et al, , 2021Figueiral et al, 2015;Mariotti Lippi et al, 2020;Margaritis et al, 2021;Moricca et al, 2021;Orrù, Grillo, Lovicu...…”