Egypt

How wild asses became donkeys of the pharaohs

New Scientist (Andy Choghlan)

Thanks to Vincent Brown for pointing this out to me. New Scientist has a feature this week on the domestication of the donkey in Egypt. The article is a summary of research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators by Stine Rossel, Fiona Marshall, Joris Peters, Tom Pilgram, Matthew D. Adams, and David O'Connor. Unfortunately only subscribers to New Scientist have access to the full story, but the magazine is available from news stands, so you may be able to get hold of a print copy. Here's the extract shown on the New Scientist website:

The ancient Egyptian state was built on the backs of tamed wild asses. Ten skeletons excavated from burial sites of the first Egyptian kings are the best evidence yet that modern-day donkeys emerged through domestication of African wild asses. The 5000-year-old bones also provide the earliest indications that asses were used for transport.

The skeletons suggest that the smaller frames of today's donkeys hadn't yet evolved. Instead, the bones resemble those of modern-day Nubian and Somali wild asses, which are much larger than today's donkeys.

Extensive wear on the joints of the excavated skeletons shows that the animals lived their lives transporting heavy loads. Cargoes may have included stone for a nearby temple at the excavation site in Abydos, 500 kilometres south of Cairo, as well as wine, grain and precious stones.

"This is the very dawn of the Egyptian state, the engine of which was the donkey," says Fiona Marshall of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, US, a member of the research team.

The only anatomical signs of the transition from ass to donkey are changes in the metatarsal bone of the lower leg, which made the leg more compact – presumably an adaptation to cope with carrying loads.

If the subject is of particular interest you can purchase a short term access to the article on the website of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An earlier informal report about archaeologist Fiona Marshall's investigations into the domestication of the donkey appeared in the Washington University of St Louis newsletter in May 2007.

- Donkey Dna
EurekAlert Genetic investigators say the partnership between people and the ancestors of today's donkeys was sealed not by monarchs trying to establish kingdoms, but by mobile, pastoral people who had to recruit animals to help them survive the harsh...

- More Re Abydos Donkeys
Down To Earth It's a slow news day so here's a somewhat late addition to the summaries about the recent research by Fiona Marshal and her team into the role of donkeys in ancient Egypt for the benefit of those of you who may have missed earlier...

- The Domestication Of The African Wild Ass
http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9468.html Profile of Fional Marshall, and details of her work into the domestication of the donkey. The donkey was domesticated in Egypt during the late Neolithic period, and was the most important pack animal...

- Domestication Of The Donkey
http://tinyurl.com/y68l4o (thestate.com)A few years ago, Egyptologists found a new Pharaonic burial site more than 5,000 years old. They opened up a tomb. 'They're expecting to find nobles, the highest courtiers,' said Washington University...

- Donkeys Originated In Africa?
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1134709.htm "Researchers used an increasingly popular method called a genetic clock, in which genetic mutations can be calculated for each generation, and then generations of two separate species can be counted...

Egypt