Medieval Piggies and More!

[Cubs]

I spent Ages looking for examples of medieval pigs....found some and that they  were HUGE!!!!
http://paulsbods.blogspot.de/2011/09/squeak-little-piggy.html

Funny enough, the wife has a friend at work who is selling off cuts of meat from her Tamworths who are taking a nice trip to the slaughterman. I called dibs on the belly-pork. Yum.

[fastolfrus]

If you want hairy pigs, just look at these:

http://www.pigparadise.com/curly.html

[Mitch K]

I spent Ages looking for examples of medieval pigs....found some and that they  were HUGE!!!!
http://paulsbods.blogspot.de/2011/09/squeak-little-piggy.html

Lovely work Paul, as per usual. The lop ear may well not have been a common characteristic - it's associated with lower aggression and vanishes more or less immediately in domestic/wild crosses.

[Patrice]

Later Medieval pigs still had a somewhat boar look.











So I would suppose that early Medieval pigs were even worse.
 (think about what ladies say when you have not shaved) 

[Dolmot]

Dunno, especially in the second pic they sport stylish haircuts. Not all species have abandoned them...







Also, I just studied some renaissance etc. art and found out that there's a pig behind every saint. Well, Anthony, at least. Is he the patron saint of Schweinstein?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

[AndrewBeasley]

Well, Anthony, at least. Is he the patron saint of Schweinstein?

Best info I can find states:

'St. Anthony is universally known for the patron of hogs, having a pig for his page in all pictures, though for what reason is unknown, except, because being a hermit, and having a cell or hole digged in the earth, and having his general repast on roots, he and hogs did in some sort enter-common both in their diet and lodging.'

This is from http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/jan/17.htm

I also found this extract from http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/hogs.htm

Human control would have been easily accomplished, for it has been observed that the striped piglets of the wild boar behave just like the unstriped piglets of the domesticated species.

the page goes on to discuss 'garbage pigs' - where the food is taken to the pig rather than let it root around and they say

In Europe, the garbage pig goes back to the Middle Ages but seems not to have been common until the fifteenth century, when the so-called Celtic pig, with white skin and pendant ears, emerged.

Last site for today has to be http://www.porkopolis.org/annex/colophon/ who has a blue boar as their logo:

[Too Bo Coo]

I KNEW you guys would be a wealth of info!  Cheers Mates!

[AndrewBeasley]

wealth

This may not be the best word to use but I have to say it's been fun hunting bits up so the real thanks go to you for the question 

[Too Bo Coo]

This may not be the best word to use but I have to say it's been fun hunting bits up so the real thanks go to you for the question  

For my purposes, this was no doubt a wealth of info.  I was jus expecting a pic of two of old pigs, but you guys gave me a ton to look at!  And what did I come up with?

[Mitch K]

Old spots! What's to not like?

[AndrewBeasley]

Last post (I think) 

We went to the Ryedale folk museum on Friday and down at the back - next to the round house - was a pair of New Zealand KuneKune pigs (called Maud and Ethel):

Ethel the Kunekune

Remind you of anything?

Now to find a model of hairy pigs...

[Cory]

I read the last post way too quickly and recoiled at finding dairy pigs.

[Paul]

Very nice, they look almost a brick color with a dark wash? 

Sorry for the late reply...yep..brick colour with a dark wash

[fastolfrus]

I read the last post way too quickly and recoiled at finding dairy pigs.

Why not? Some people have chocolate teddies and Easter bunnies.....


But for hairy pigs in miniature, how about greenstuffing some ears and a snout onto a sheep?

[starkadder]

And if you cross a wild boar with a domestic pig, the offspring is essentially a wild boar. All the traits laboriously bred in over generations seem to vanish in one or two generations. So, in times when there would have been significantly more interaction between domestic and wild pigs, the outcome is going to stay pretty wild boar-like.

I can confirm that, Mitch. Oz has a pretty serious feral pig problem as escaped tuskers slipped into the bush quite readily. I've been pig-shooting around Bourke and Wilcannia in NSW. The ferals are big, hairy, dark skinned, very mean and very smart. All derived from domesticated stock.

Someone was also talking about "garbage pigs". They are a common sight in Papua New Guinea and Melanesia and, I suspect, their use predates the 15th Century by quite a long way.