Archaeology of the pork taboo | Hugonweb Annotated Link Bibliography

For early Israelites and Muslims, the pork taboo seems to be a way to identify with their ancestral origin as herders, where pigs weren't practical.

Beause pigs didn't need a bunch of graising land, government officials couldn't track them. They could live their entire lives in a backyard. This, combined with nice secondary products of ruminants like milk and wool, lead to pigs being a lower-class thing, while ruminants were prized by the wealthy and religious/social elite.