Biometric Differentiation of Wild Philippine Pigs from Introduced Sus scrofa in Modern and Archaeological Assemblages

In many parts of Eurasia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia where native wild suids occur, it is notoriously difficult to differentiate these from introduced domestic pigs in the prehistoric archaeological record. Yet, correct identification of the initial appearance or introduction of domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) is essential for determining the timing for the transition from purely hunting to the adoption of managed animal populations within different regions across the globe. In a recent review of techniques used by zooarchaeologists to distinguish between domestic and wild pig populations, the analysts concluded that the most reliable method was metrical analyses, when the data produce a clear two-population pattern, one domestic, the other wild. In this study, we demonstrate how linear metrics are an effective tool, albeit at different levels of confidence, for differentiating the native and endemic species of Philippine pig from S. scrofa, both within modern contemporary assemblages, and the archaeological record.