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Log inDonkey didn’t have dog’s life
Donkey didn’t have dog’s life
by sakthi on Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:29 am
New Delhi, March 10: Donkey skeletons from a burial place of ancient Egyptian rulers have yielded the first hard evidence for the earliest domestication of donkeys about 5,000 years ago.
The remains, found in brick-lined graves, show signs of spondylosis and vertebral disc degeneration caused by the strain of turning into beasts of burden, an international research team said.
The donkeys from Abydos, about 480km south of Cairo, provide the earliest direct evidence of the use of donkeys for transport rather than for meat, Fiona Marshall at the Washington University St. Louis and her colleagues said in a research paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The animals resembled wild asses, but displayed joint wear typically associated with the microscopic fractures that arise in the vertebral bones after overloading and strain.
“Genetic research has suggest African origins for the donkey,” said Marshall, an archaeologist trying to decipher the origin and spread of pastoralism in Africa. But an exact time and place for domestication has been hard to pinpoint because signs of early domestication can be hard to see, she said.
Archaeologists believe the domestication of the donkey was a key event in the history of human civilisation. Donkeys are tough and capable of carrying heavy loads in arid regions.
Their domestication could have allowed the distribution of food across ancient Egypt and facilitated trade with other cultures in Africa and western Asia, according to the researchers.
Marshall and her co-workers from Denmark and Germany examined 10 donkey skeletons from three graves in the mortuary complex of one of the founder dynasties of Egyptian kings. The positions of the donkeys’ graves suggest that the beasts of burden were accorded the same importance as court officials.
“This was a great surprise,” Marshall said.
“The donkeys occupied special tombs in which you would normally find the highest courtiers of ancient Egypt,” Marshall said. “This suggests that they were greatly valued by the pharaoh. It’s possible they were used to carry something very important,” she said.
None of the seal impressions contained a royal name for the identity of the king for whom the burial complex was built. But the iconography of the seals and the configuration of the architecture suggest a date close to the beginning of the Early Dynastic period, about 3000 BC, the researchers said in their report.
The donkeys were between 8 and 13 years of age — in their prime adulthood.
The joints of all the animals showed heavy wear. Joint wear on the feet suggested that the damage had resulted from loading rather than from pulling, the researchers said.
Source : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080311/jsp/nation/story_9004763.jsp
Regards
Sakthi
The remains, found in brick-lined graves, show signs of spondylosis and vertebral disc degeneration caused by the strain of turning into beasts of burden, an international research team said.
The donkeys from Abydos, about 480km south of Cairo, provide the earliest direct evidence of the use of donkeys for transport rather than for meat, Fiona Marshall at the Washington University St. Louis and her colleagues said in a research paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The animals resembled wild asses, but displayed joint wear typically associated with the microscopic fractures that arise in the vertebral bones after overloading and strain.
“Genetic research has suggest African origins for the donkey,” said Marshall, an archaeologist trying to decipher the origin and spread of pastoralism in Africa. But an exact time and place for domestication has been hard to pinpoint because signs of early domestication can be hard to see, she said.
Archaeologists believe the domestication of the donkey was a key event in the history of human civilisation. Donkeys are tough and capable of carrying heavy loads in arid regions.
Their domestication could have allowed the distribution of food across ancient Egypt and facilitated trade with other cultures in Africa and western Asia, according to the researchers.
Marshall and her co-workers from Denmark and Germany examined 10 donkey skeletons from three graves in the mortuary complex of one of the founder dynasties of Egyptian kings. The positions of the donkeys’ graves suggest that the beasts of burden were accorded the same importance as court officials.
“This was a great surprise,” Marshall said.
“The donkeys occupied special tombs in which you would normally find the highest courtiers of ancient Egypt,” Marshall said. “This suggests that they were greatly valued by the pharaoh. It’s possible they were used to carry something very important,” she said.
None of the seal impressions contained a royal name for the identity of the king for whom the burial complex was built. But the iconography of the seals and the configuration of the architecture suggest a date close to the beginning of the Early Dynastic period, about 3000 BC, the researchers said in their report.
The donkeys were between 8 and 13 years of age — in their prime adulthood.
The joints of all the animals showed heavy wear. Joint wear on the feet suggested that the damage had resulted from loading rather than from pulling, the researchers said.
Source : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080311/jsp/nation/story_9004763.jsp
Regards
Sakthi
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