In Mesopotamia and western Iran the native equid was the Asiatic wild ass or
onager (Equus hemionus). The onager is larger and stronger than a donkey but
hardly manageable, and it has recently been argued that in the third millennium
BCthe Sumerians were in possession of a domesticated species of onager (Equus
hemionus pumpellii) that subsequently became extinct.^32 It is more widely
supposed that the Sumerians crossed the onager with a donkey, to produce a hybrid
that was physically and temperamentally suited for work as a pack animal and a
draft animal. A copper or bronze nose-ring, to which a rope was tied, was often
used for controlling a large animal. On the “peace” side of the Ur Standard, from
ca. 2500 BC, oxen are shown being led in that manner, and on the “war” side the
equids (possibly donkey-onager hybrids) drawing heavy wagons are likewise con -
trolled by nose-rings. Donkeys could be managed by less severe devices: a halter
or a simple nose-band was usually sufficient.
In modern times the donkey has often been associated with poor and backward
economies, but in the Near East in the third millennium BCit connoted wealth.
During the Old and Middle Kingdoms in Egypt donkeys continued to be
slaughtered at elite tombs, in order to accompany the deceased into the Afterlife.
In Syria and Mesopotamia during the third millennium BCdonkeys were sacrificed
at various temples, where their meat was evidently consumed by the resident god
and his worshippers. Donkeys were also sacrificed before the construction of a
wall or a large building, and their skeletons have been found in Early Bronze Age
foundation deposits. The ritual role of the donkey in Early and Middle Bronze
Age societies has received increased attention with the discovery of burials at Tell
Brak in Syria and at Tel Haror in southern Israel.^33
From the steppe no representation of a pack animal has been found in Neoli -
thic or Early Bronze Age contexts. Because horses had long been domesticated
on the steppe as food animals, however, it is very likely that after Andrew
Sherratt’s “Secondary Products Revolution” some horses were pressed into service
as pack animals. We may also assume that—like the donkey in the Near East—
a horse accustomed to carry packs on the steppe would occasionally have been
ridden by its Neolithic owner. Without great difficulty an older gelding or mare
could have been trained to accept a passenger, while another person led the animal
by a rope attached to a nose-band or a halter. We may also assume that on the
steppe from time to time a young man—more daringly, and perhaps to entertain
or impress onlookers—without accompaniment by a pedestrian handler would have
ridden a domesticated horse, attempting to exercise some control over it by a nose-
band or another rudimentary device. For the inhabitants of the Eurasian steppe
the horse was the epitome of speed. The Proto-Indo-European word for “horse”
was ékwo-, a noun related to oku-s, the PIE adjective for “swift.”^34
Neolithic riders?
Although more than accompanied or athletic riding of horses cannot be assumed
until the end of the third millennium BC, it has long been argued that villagers on
the steppe had been riding horses regularly and efficiently already in the third,
The Kurgan theory and taming of horses 35