Zooarchaeological study of pigs during the Holocene at El Portalón (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Abstract

A taphonomic study, followed by the biometrical analysis and mortality profile of 490 bone remains from the Neolithic to Bronze Age levels at El Portalón (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) is presented in this work. The pig is the third most represented taxon in the Neolithic, Pre-Bell Beaker Chalcolithic, Bell-Beaker Chalcolithic, and Late Bronze Age levels, and the fourth taxon in the Early and Middle Bronze Age levels, when it was replaced by horses. There was a slight decrease in pig size from the Bell-Beaker to the Middle Bronze Age, coinciding with a change in suid management. The possible causes of these changes are analyzed and discussed in this work. Taphonomic alterations, as well as anthropic evidence, such as cut marks, human tooth marks, dynamic loading, and fire modifications, suggest consumption of domestic suids throughout the El Portalón site’s entire chronocultural sequence.