BYOB(oar)

Digs & Discoveries November/December 2025

Ali Mohammadi/Alamy
SHARE:

Eleven thousand years ago, early Neolithic people who gathered at the site of Asiab in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran brought their own boar meat to contribute to communal feasts. Archaeologists uncovered 19 wild boar skulls that displayed clear signs of butchery neatly packed in a pit at the site. A team of researchers conducted dental and geochemical analysis on some of the boars’ teeth to determine where the animals may have originated. Although Asiab’s environment provided a natural habitat for boars, the animals consumed there came from various distant locations, some as far as 40 miles away. Transporting a heavy boar carcass across the mountainous terrain would not have been an easy task, especially as the journey must have taken several days.

Scholars believe it was important for Neolithic hunters to bring offerings to festivities that were sourced from specific locations. Archaeologist Petra Vaiglova of the Australian National University likens this behavior to today’s custom of bringing a special delicacy or present to a hometown holiday get-together. “This new research provides really exciting insight into the longevity of gift giving and the antiquity of bringing geographically meaningful contributions to social gatherings,” says Vaiglova.

  • Features November/December 2025

    Acts of Faith

    Evidence emerges of the day in 1562 when an infamous Spanish cleric tried to destroy Maya religion

    Read Article
    Adriana Rosas/Alamy
  • Features November/December 2025

    Temples to Tradition

    A looted cache of bronzes compels archaeologists to explore Celtic sanctuaries across Burgundy

    Read Article
    The temple at the Gallo-Roman sanctuary in Couan in east-central France
    M. Thivet, MSHE
  • Features November/December 2025

    Oasis Makers of Arabia

    Researchers are just beginning to understand how people thrived in the desert of Oman some 5,000 years ago

    Read Article
    Beehive-shaped tombs at the site of Al-Ayn, Oman
    Vadim Nefedov/Alamy
  • Features November/December 2025

    Searching for Venezuela’s Undiscovered Artists

    Inspired by their otherworldly landscape, ancient people created a new rock art tradition

    Read Article
    José Miguel Pérez-Gómez