Neolithic pigs from Durrington Walls, Wiltshire, England: a biometrical database Umberto Albarella a, * , Sebastian Payne b a Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET, UK b English Heritage, London, 23 Savile Row, London W1S 2ET, UK Received 18 March 2004; received in revised form 10 November 2004 Abstract The large assemblage of animal remains from Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, England) provides an opportunity to examine patterns of variability in the measurements of pig bones and teeth in a large archaeological sample, and to propose a set of ‘standard’ measurements to be used as a comparison with other European sites. The results provide a basis for suggesting which measurements are best suited to tackle different questions, such as the separation of populations, sexes and age groups. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Pig; Neolithic; Durrington Walls; Biometry; Size; Age; Sex 1. Introduction Measurements of animal bones from archaeological sites can be valuable for the distinction of taxa, morphological types, sexes and also age groups. Innovations in animal husbandry brought about changes in the morphology and size of domestic animals that can be detected biometrically. In addition, the comparison of animal size in different areas, sites and periods can highlight the existence of environmental and cultural differences and similarities [1,6,11,28]. For biometry to work at its best in zooarchaeology, it is desirable to have large sample sizes, which will ensure statistical reliability. This is unfortunately not always possible, and the problem is particularly serious in the case of pig (Sus scrofa) bones, which tend to be porous and therefore fragile. This is not only a consequence of their natural structure but also of the fact that pigs were generally slaughtered at a relatively young age. Hence, pig post-cranial bones are frequently relatively scarce or fragmented, and rarely provide large samples of measurements. Pig teeth are much more durable, but zooarchaeologists have traditionally more rarely mea- sured them (though see [22]). The third molar represents an exception to this general trend, and in fact its length has most commonly been used in attempts to distinguish domestic pigs from wild boar (cf. [7,23]). However, in many assemblages this tooth is found only in small numbers, as it erupts late and will therefore not be present and fully-developed in animals less than ca. 24–30 months old (cf. [15]). As a consequence of these problems there is a general dearth of pig biometrical data in archaeology. Many smaller samples of measurements from particular sites are hardly meaningful if analysed in isolation and can only be used as part of a broader data bank of mea- surements from a particular area or period, or must be compared with key sites, which have produced large data sets of measurements. Unfortunately, few of these are available d particularly in north-western Europe d and many issues regarding the distinction of * Corresponding author. Tel.: C44 114 222 2943; fax: C44 114 272 2563. E-mail addresses: u.albarella@sheffield.ac.uk (U. Albarella), sebas- tian.payne@english-heritage.org.uk (S. Payne). 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.008 Journal of Archaeological Science 32 (2005) 589–599 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas