When English colonial invaders occupied the island of Barbados in 1627 , they were surprised to determine a herd of what they believed to be wild European pigs . How the animals get there was a immense mystery , as there was no reason to bring them all the fashion from Europe .
Researchers have now find out that the pigs seen back in the 17th century were n’t pigs at all . They werepeccaries , a pig - like but genetically different mammal , which is commonly determine in Central and South America .
As describe inPLOS ONE , Christina Giovas , an archaeologist from Simon Fraser University in Canada discovered the jaw bone of a peccary while working on a projection on the early intro of animal to the Caribbean .
" I did n’t give it much notice at the time , but simply collected it along with other bones , " Giovas said in astatement . " It was completely unexpected and I aboveboard thought I must have made a fault with the species identification . "
Giovas and partner George Kamenov and John Krigbaum of the University of Florida wanted to do it how former this jaw bone was as it would give them an melodic theme of when the animals were introduce to the island . They used carbon 14 date stamp to establish age and measured levels of strontium isotope in the bone to notice if the animal was local or not .
They discovered that the peccary live between 1645 and 1670 and was indeed local to Barbados . This explains the “ unfounded copper ” depicted in early maps of the island , including the famous 1657 unity . However , this starts a raw whodunit . Who brought these creature to the island ? The team believes that it was Europeans .
" Checking historical and archaeological record , we determined the most likely source of peccary introduction was from Spanish or Portuguese ships spend the island in the 16th century – and most likely left as a source of meat for future shoot the breeze sailors , " Giovas said .
The finding show just how quickly the European invasion of the Americas modify the environment of the Caribbean . It also changes some of the accepted colonial history of the island , which was first settled byArawaks , an Amerindian civilisation , around 1620 BCE .
