Which region is noted for early domestication of pigs followed by sheep around 11,000 years ago?

• A. Mesopotamia
• B. Egypt
• C. Indus Valley
• D. China

Answer: (A)

The region is the Fertile Crescent in the Near East, around Mesopotamia. This area is where agriculture and animal management began earliest, as humans shifted from hunting and gathering to settled farming. Archaeological evidence shows pigs were domesticated here first, about 11,000 years ago, because they were useful as a flexible food source and relatively easy to keep in evolving village life. Sheep then followed in the same region, becoming a staple for wool and meat as pastoral herding developed. This sequence—pigs first, then sheep—in the early Holocene is a hallmark of the Near East’s role in the transition to farming. Other regions did domesticate these animals as well, but the specific early timing and order point to this region as the best fit.