ASIAB, IRAN—Modern etiquette mandates that guests invited to a holiday gathering should bring something to contribute to the party, whether it be a bottle of wine or, perhaps, a dessert. It appears things were not all that different millennia ago. According to a statement by Australian National University (ANU), communities living in diverse locations in the Zagros Mountains 11,000 years ago came together for a communal celebration at the site of Asiab, in current-day western Iran. Many, it seems, brought their own pigs with them. Excavations at the site unearthed the skulls of 19 wild boars that were neatly placed and sealed within a pit. Recent isotopic analysis of tooth enamel determined that the animals did not live locally, but came from diverse locations as far as 40 miles away. This indicates that as the dispersed communities assembled together at Asiab for a festival, they brought meat from their own territories as a contribution, a not-so-insignificant feat since it would have been difficult to transport the boars over the mountainous terrain during a journey that may have taken several days. There also may have been an element of local pride in showing off their hometown catch. “Boars are especially aggressive and so displaying them as hunting trophies or presenting them at a feast carries with it a certain element of significance,” said ANU researcher Petra Vaiglova. “Bringing these animals from distant locations would have undoubtedly helped celebrate the importance of the social event that took place at Asiab.” Read the original scholarly article about this research in Communications Earth and Environment. To read in-depth about the archaeology of pigs, go to "On the Origin of the Pork Taboo."
