Modern-day Chinese pigs are directly descended from ancient pigs
which were the first to be domesticated in the region 10,000
years ago, a new archaeological and genetic study has revealed.
An international team of researchers, led by Durham University
(UK) and the China Agricultural University, in Beijing, say
their findings suggest a difference between patterns of early
domestication and movement of pigs in Europe and parts of East
Asia. The research, published today (Monday, April 19) in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, looked at
the DNA sequences of more than 1,500 modern and 18 ancient pigs.
Lead author Dr Greger Larson, in the Department of Archaeology,
at Durham University, said: "Previous studies of European
domestic pigs demonstrated that the first pigs in Europe were
imported from the Near East. Those first populations were then
completely replaced by pigs descended from European wild boar.
"However, despite the occurrence of genetically distinct
populations of wild boar thro