tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post3572336596462375634..comments2024-01-04T04:11:55.717+02:00Comments on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: More on Al-Magar horsesDienekeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-17585867540938461502013-05-04T21:26:36.757+03:002013-05-04T21:26:36.757+03:00"Horses are not very useful animals in the co..."Horses are not very useful animals in the context of the Neolithic. They eat a lot, and prior to the invention of wheels they could not be used to draw stuff. Even for plowing, a pair of oxen is more useful, and cattle have other uses besides motive power."<br /><br />Just want to point out that Plains tribes used the travois quite effectively with horses. Wheels aren't really necessary. <br /><br />I think any scholar hypothesizing about the utility of horses should ride one regularly--I ride bareback for the most part, and I could definitely see the utility in horses as a war animal. Again, Plains tribes used them for war quite effectively before they had iron-tipped arrows or leather stirrups. Shayanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07079111794180941158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-90910900999983051762011-11-07T21:39:11.069+02:002011-11-07T21:39:11.069+02:00I've read that some Semitic and Egyptian words...I've read that some Semitic and Egyptian words for horse are loans from some IE languages<br />such as Hebrew sus, Akkadian sisu, Ugaritic sisw, Aramaic sisya, Egyptian ssm, I think we can also connect Arabic šušan<br />šuš (quick young female camel) and Arabic šawšan (camel servant), All those words stem perhaps from the word such as Mitanni Aryan ašušanni<br />wich means horse trainer however on light of this discovery it could be that it's from one(s) of the Semitic languages that IE languages borrowed this word because:<br />1/this word shows very aberrant reflexions on each one of the IE languages it is attested on so that we cannot even provide a secure form of the proto IE word for horse<br /><br />2/this word seems to lack an internal semantico-phonetical motivation within IE, while it looks very well rooted and explainable on Semitic motivation<br />Indeed the root "šwš" means to be quick and hurry in Semitic<br /><br />3/this word is attested in Semitic and Egyptian as early as script begins<br /><br />But of course those are speculations that need to be confirmed by archeologists and linguistsVan Hooijdonkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03863824829282040015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-4012901771124363442011-10-29T15:07:34.964+03:002011-10-29T15:07:34.964+03:00The more we look, the more we find. Sometimes we ...The more we look, the more we find. Sometimes we add too much betweeen the lines. We can imagine anything. There is so much we do not know, and we are impatient. Lacking a camel, a horse would do to drag a travois for a shepherd's tent.Pascvakshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08311382875179534062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-56654799836698775722011-10-28T23:16:35.645+03:002011-10-28T23:16:35.645+03:00how did they so pathetically fail to leverage that...<i>how did they so pathetically fail to leverage that into any practical benefit over their neighbors who lacked horses and bridles for so many thousands of years later?</i><br /><br />Horses were pretty much useless as a military weapon until the Bronze Age, and even then they had marginal utility. Even in the Iron Age, when cavalries of mounted horsemen were established, their utility depended greatly on terrain. <br /><br /><i>Why aren't there horses in early Neolithic Europe?</i><br /><br />Horses are not very useful animals in the context of the Neolithic. They eat a lot, and prior to the invention of wheels they could not be used to draw stuff. Even for plowing, a pair of oxen is more useful, and cattle have other uses besides motive power.<br /><br />I'm not saying I'm buying into 9,000-year old domesticated horses before more information surfaces. But, I don't discount the possibility that horses were domesticated at an early date in Arabia even if they found their niche much later and elsewhere.Dienekeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-12956263285940347192011-10-28T20:04:18.418+03:002011-10-28T20:04:18.418+03:00I wonder about the accuracy of the dating of the f...I wonder about the accuracy of the dating of the find. If the Arabians really had horses and bridles so early, how did they so pathetically fail to leverage that into any practical benefit over their neighbors who lacked horses and bridles for so many thousands of years later? And, why didn't domesticates horses get used in a wider geographic area much sooner? Why aren't there horses in early Neolithic Europe?<br /><br />Of course, if true, it also casts real doubt on the horses as the motive force of Indo-European expansion?Andrew Oh-Willekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.com