Wild pigs were (are) widespread in Eurasia. I recall a herd of boars frightened by ISIS's shots and making a stampede in vicinity of Mosul like a year ago, killing 4 ISIS members. The very fact that pork was prohibited for the Jews (Lev. XI, 17; Deut. XIV, 8) implies that pork had been used for food, at least in a world known to the Jews. Same goes for Qur'anic prohibition. While its meat was forbidden, the use of pig's bristles for footwear was not prohibited for Muslims; the pigs were raised by local Christians, who obtained the bristles by scalding the pig in boiling water after the slaughter, causing the saying akrah min kirahat al-khinzir li 'l-ma' al-mughar (showing more aversion than the pig for boiling water).