Donkey domestication
Domesticación del burro
- Date
- c. 4000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- El-Omari and Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
- Credited to
- Predynastic pastoralists of north-east Africa
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Domestication of the African wild ass by Nile and Saharan pastoralists as a pack animal, attested by remains at El-Omari and Maadi and by load-bearing pathologies at Abydos. The first land transport animal.
Two wild-ass lineages (Nubian and Somali) suggest more than one domestication episode in Africa.
What it led to
- Trans-Saharan caravans and long-distance trade without rivers
- Mobility of nomadic pastoralists with their belongings
- Integration of Egypt with the Levant and Nubia via overland routes
Built on
- Cattle domestication (aurochs)c. 8500 BCE
- Pack and rope
Made possible
- Caravan
- Mule (hybrid)
- Egyptian long-distance trade