BARCELONA, SPAIN—A genetic sample obtained from early sixteenth-century pig remains suggests that today’s Iberian pig is closely related to Spain’s ancient pigs. “Although it is a very fragmented sample, the gene sequence offers very interesting information,” Miguel Perez-Enciso of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona told Science Daily. He and his team of researchers from Pompeu Fabra University and the National Center for Genome Analysis found that the ancient pig was not a white pig, but it did carry a series of markers typical of domesticated pigs, so it may have resembled the black or reddish pigs depicted in artwork from the sixteenth century. This coincides with historic records of pig breeding kept at the Montsoriu Castle in Girona, where the bones were unearthed. There is also genetic evidence suggesting occasional crossbreeding between wild boars and ancient pigs. “This close relation between the Iberian pig, the European boar, and the ancient pig confirms, as stated in previous studies, that crossbreeding between the Asian pig and modern Iberian pigs did not exist or was insignificant,” Perez-Enciso concluded. To read about other ancient pig tales, see ARCHAEOLOGY'S "Israel's Wild Boars Are Descended From European Pigs."
