Before horses, ass hybrids were bred for warfare

[Hippie Rancher]

Before horses, ass hybrids were bred for warfare

The 4,500-year-old iconography and texts from Mesopotamia show that the elite used equids for travel and warfare; however, the nature of these animals remained mysterious. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News

www.heritagedaily.com

"The 4,500-year-old iconography and texts from Mesopotamia show that the elite used equids for travel and warfare; however, the nature of these animals remained mysterious.

A team from the Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS/Université de Paris) used ancient DNA to show that these animals were the result of crossing domestic donkeys with wild asses.

This makes them the oldest known example of animal hybrids, which were produced by Syro-Mesopotamian societies 500 years before the arrival of domestic horses in the region.

Equids have played a key role in the evolution of warfare throughout history. Although domesticated horses did not appear in the Fertile Crescent until about 4,000 years ago1​, the Sumerians had already been using equid-drawn four-wheeled war wagons on the battlefield for centuries, as evidenced by the famous "Standard of Ur", a 4,500-year-old Sumerian mosaic (see photo). Cuneiform clay tablets from this period also mention prestigious equids with a high market value called "kunga"; however, the precise nature of this animal has been the subject of controversy for decades."

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[GoWyo]

I always wondered if the North American Indians had figured out to ride horses instead of eat them before the Ice Age if they would have still been a stone age people by the 1500s. Transportation and increased trade and more sophisticated warfare would likely have led to development of the wheel, which would have instigated more ingenuity.