The Iron Age pig is a hybrid between a wild boar and a domestic pig

Domestic pig

The domestic pig is a domesticated animal that traces its ancestry to the wild boar, and is considered a subspecies of the wild boar or a distinct species in its own right. It is likely the wild boar was domesticated as early as 13,000 BC in the Tigris River basin...

 meant to recreate the type of pig represented by prehistoric art works of the Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

. The project started in the early 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 by crossing a male wild boar with a Tamworth

Tamworth Pig

The Tamworth is a breed of domestic pig originating in the United Kingdom, with input from Irish pigs. It is among the oldest of pig breeds but as with many older breeds of livestock it is not well suited to modern production methods and is listed as "Threatened" in the United States and...

sow to produce an animal that looks like the pig from long ago. Iron Age pigs are generally only raised in Europe for a specialty meat market, and in keeping with their heritage are generally more aggressive and harder to handle than pure domestic pigs.