The ox, which had been domesticated since about 7000 BC, was widely used as a draft animal in the Near East. It was slow moving, going only 3.6 kilometers per hour on average, and could work little more than five to six hours a day. At first, the ox was used to drag sleds over the ground, but it was not until about 3000 BC, when the wheel was invented, that the animal's traction power could truly be appreciated. It is calculated that a properly fed ox pulling a cart on suitable terrain could go up to 15 kilometers per day.
Era: Late Bronze Age.
Substance: Bronze.
Width: 10 cm.
Texte: Michel Fortin (p. 160).
Photo: Nicholas Randal.
Collection of the National Museum of Damascus.
Highlights of the National Museum of Damascus. DGAM (Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées de Syrie). Ministère de la Culture, 2006.
Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.
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