Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators

*Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark;
^‡Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130;
^¶Institute of Palaeoanatomy and History of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University, D-80539 Munich, Germany;
^‖Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110; and
**Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, NY 10021

Edited by Dolores R. Piperno, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, and Balboa, Panama, and approved January 25, 2008 (received for review October 16, 2007)

Abstract

Domestication of the donkey from the African wild ass transformed ancient transport systems in Africa and Asia and the organization of early cities and pastoral societies. Genetic research suggests an African origin for the donkey, but pinpointing the timing and location of domestication has been challenging because donkeys are uncommon in the archaeological record and markers for early phases of animal domestication are hard to determine. We present previously undescribed evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and new paleopathological indicators for early phases of donkey domestication. Findings are based on skeletal data from 10 ≈5,000-year-old ass skeletons recently discovered entombed in an early pharaonic mortuary complex at Abydos, Middle Egypt, and a concurrent study of 53 modern donkey and African wild ass skeletons. Morphometric studies showed that Abydos metacarpals were similar in overall proportions to those of wild ass, but individual measurements varied. Midshaft breadths resembled wild ass, but midshaft depths and distal breadths were intermediate between wild ass and domestic donkey. Despite this, all of the Abydos skeletons exhibited a range of osteopathologies consistent with load carrying. Morphological similarities to wild ass show that, despite their use as beasts of burden, donkeys were still undergoing considerable phenotypic change during the early Dynastic period in Egypt. This pattern is consistent with recent studies of other domestic animals that suggest that the process of domestication is slower and less linear than previously thought.

Footnotes

^§To whom correspondence should be addressed at:
Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Box 1114, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130.
E-mail: fmarshal{at}artsci.wustl.edu
Author contributions: S.R. and F.M. contributed equally to this work; S.R. and F.M. designed research; S.R., F.M., and J.P. performed research; S.R., F.M., and T.P. analyzed data; and S.R., F.M., J.P., T.P., M.D.A., and D.O. wrote the paper.
↵ ^†Deceased October 20, 2007.
This paper is dedicated to the memory of S.R. (1975–2007), who died in a tragic hiking accident shortly after the manuscript was submitted.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0709692105/DC1.