“Pig” is a term used synonymously with “hog” and “swine” for the one domesticated suid species, Sus scrofa domesticus. In livestock circles, a pig becomes a hog when it passes the weight threshold of 50 kilograms. The word “swine” transcends age and sex but to many has a pejorative ring.A “gilt” is any immature version of a sow, whereas a “barrow” is a young, castrated male that can never grow up to become a boar. After a piglet has been weaned, it becomes a “shoat.” Most of these terms are not used by a general public whose only encounter with this animal is in the supermarket. The meat of this often maligned beast yields some of the world’s best-tasting flesh and provides good-quality protein in large amounts.

Domestication

All domesticated pigs originated from the wild boar (Sus scrofa) (Epstein 1984). Within that one wild species, more than 20 subspecies are known in different parts of its natural range, which has extended from the British Isles and Morocco in the West to Japan and New Guinea in the East. But where in this vast stretch of territory the first domestication occurred is still uncertain, although the earliest archaeological records (c. 7000–5000 B.C.) have been concentrated in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean.

Indeed, the recovery of bones of domesticated pigs has been done at Jericho (Palestine), Jarmo (Iraq), Catal Huyuk (Turkey), and Argissa-Margula (Greece), as well as other sites. But bones older than any of those from these sites were uncovered in 1994 at Hallan Cemi in southeastern Turkey. There, in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, the pig was apparently kept as early as 8000 B.C., making it the oldest known domesticated creature besides the dog. Moreover, pig keeping at this site was found to predate the cultivation of wheat or barley. Both findings contradict the long-held twin assertions that sheep and goats were the world’s earliest domesticated herd animals and that crop growing preceded the raising of herd animals.