I wonder what happened to Middle Eastern pig consumption after the Early Iron Age. Did it rise?
Also, the time just before, around 1200 BCE, was a time of big droughts and peoples on the move, two circumstances that would have been bad for raising pigs. So that may have made pigs go out of style for a while.
At that time, the Hittite and the Mycenaean kingdoms were destroyed, though Egypt was more successful in fighting off hordes of invading "Sea Peoples".
[This message has been edited by lpetrich, 04-13-2003]