Pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world after chicken and it represents the preferred animal-based protein source in the EU. Our current agricultural system has made it possible for us to produce food in vast quantities, but how sustainable is this massive consumption? Agriculture, animal husbandry and sustainable farming are some of the main concerns of the EU, and archaeological and historical investigations have the potential to contribute greatly to the development of new common policies. The main aim of this project is to understand how pig husbandry practices were influenced by, and adapted to, the changing economy and society that characterized the transition between the late medieval and early modern periods (1400-1800 AD), a key time in which modern husbandry systems developed. Pig bone frequencies are, more than for other species, associated with cultural choices and social status; the reason they can be used as a marker of social and economic transformation.
This project will apply a rigorous scientific approach to investigate how changes in pig management, which originated and developed in England, spread to continental Europe. This will be done by comparing data from England and Germany in order to trace the pathway of this phenomenon which deeply influenced not only modern pig populations but also modern food production systems. This comparative approach is important as it will allow us to understand chronological and geographical variation in the changes that occurred during this crucial time. England is one of the chosen areas because it is here that the Agricultural Revolution began, bringing significant technological changes in farming practices, such as breed improvements and the adoption of more efficient breeding strategies, i.e. the foundation of the modern production system. Bavaria, in southern Germany, has been selected as, during the medieval period, there was a very strong tradition of pig husbandry and very little is known about when, and to what extent, the improvements developed by the English were adopted here. The period this project focuses on is also very important as it is the direct precursor of the contemporary world, thus it has the potential to reveal the foundation of our current relationship with animals. This project will bring together humanities and science, using archaeological evidence but also taking into account historical context. The contribution this project will make will be highly valuable due to the combination of several strands of evidence that are rarely combined: traditional zooarchaeology, 2 Dimensional Geometric Morphometrics (2D GMM) and stable isotope analysis.
