A limestone sculpture depicting a wild boar was recently uncovered at the site of Göbeklitepe in southeastern Anatolia. The sculpture dates to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 10,000-8200 b.c.), a time when wild boars were an important source of food for hunter-gatherers. LETTER FROM THE LEVANT ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PORK TABOO Exploring ancient people's shifting beliefs about rearing and eating pigs By Andrew Lawler P ork accounts for more than a third of the world's meat, making pigs among the planet's most widely consumed animals. They are also widely reviled: For about two billion people, eating pork is explicitly prohibited. The Hebrew Bible and the Islamic Koran both forbid adherents from eating pig flesh, and this ban is one of humanity's most deeply archaeology.org entrenched dietary restrictions. For centuries, scholars have struggled to find a satisfying explanation for this widespread taboo. " There are an amazing number of misconceptions people continue to have about pigs, " says archaeologist Max Price of Durham University, who is among a small group of scholars scouring both modern excavation reports and ancient tablets for clues about the rise and fall of pork consumption in the ancient Near East. " That makes this research both frustrating and fascinating. " Among the most surprising finds is that the inhabitants of the earliest cities of the Bronze Age (3500-1200 b.c.) were enthusiastic pig eaters, and that even later Iron Age (1200-586 b.c.) residents of Jerusalem enjoyed the occasional 51http://www.archaeology.org