The issue of the domestication of Bactrian camels has long been disputed. According to F. Pritzwald, the Bactrian camel came into use very late: only in the tenth century B. c. did representations of Bactrian camels and mention of them in texts appear in Assyria (Pritzwald 1924, 259-67). It is assumed that Bactrian camels were brought by the nomads from Central Asia, where they still exist (Walz 1954, 84, 85).
In the late nineteenth century, the wild Bactrian camel, the khavtagai, was foimd in the Gobi Desert, where it was described by N. M. Przhe-valsky (Przewalski) and then by G. E. Grum-Grzhymailo, P. K. Kozlov, and Sven Hedin. At the present time, the range of the wild Bactrian camel has diminished and is limited by the Transaltaian Gobi and possibly the bend of the Tarim; in Mongolia only a few hrmdred khavtagais have survived (Bogolyubsky 1929, 14, 15; Khaveson 1940, 117; Sokolov 1961, 109-12; fig. 21). A. G. Bannikov (1945) has proved that the surviving Bactrian camel has not become wild, as some researchers suggest, but is wild per se, a conclusion validated by pronounced morphological differences. It is the opinion of zoologists that the khavtagai’s range used to be considerably broader and stretched westward up to Kazakhstan.
The issue of the origin of Bactrian camels now can be solved, as a result of discoveries of camel bones at sites in Turkmenistan that date from the fourth millennium B. c. on, which allows one to date the domestication of the Bactrian camel precisely to this time (Fig. 33).
At farming settlements in Southern Turkmenistan, domesticated camel bones were found at Anau in the upper level of the southern mound (Duerst 1908, 383-84; Zeuner 1963, 359), dating from the latter half of the fourth millennium B. C., and in Geoksyur 5 in the second construction phase, in the level of Namazga III, the first half of the third millennium b. c. (Tsalkin 1970a, 156). These offer the most ancient evidence of the domestication of Bactrian camels in the Old World.
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In the Bronze Age, the camel was already widespread: in the level of Namazga IV among the fauna of the settlements of Shor-depe, Altyn-depe, Khapuz-depe, Namazga-depe, and Kelleli 1; in the level of the Namazga V epoch at Ulug-depe; Namazga VI, at Tekkem-depe and Ma-dau (Tsalkin 1970a, 157; Ermolova 1970, 226, 227).
In Bactria the appearance of the camel is recorded hy findings of bones at the settlement of Sapalli-tepe dating to the early second millennium B. C. (Askarov 1973, 131; 1977, 120, pi. XLV, 13; Batyrov 1974, 135). The representations of Bactrian camels in the figural art of Altyn-tepe, Taichanak-depe, Khapuz-depe, Ulug-depe, Taip, and Takhirbai 3 are indicative of the development of camel breeding in Central Asia (I. Maksimov 1976, 76; figs. 13, 16; Shchetenko 1968, 22; figs. 12: 2, 12, 13; Masson 1959, 15; fig. 13: 1, 4-8; 1970, pis. XV, 6; XVI).
In Margiana, clay camel figures abound at the settlements of Togolok 1,2, and Gonur 1; the camel is represented on seal-amulets (Sarianidi 1976, 61, 62; fig. 18; 1990, pis. XXIII: 11, 12, 14; XXIV: 12, 13, 15, 16; LXXVII: 13; LXXXVlll: 1), and also on a bronze mirror from Takhta-Bazaar (Fig. 33). In Bactria, images of Bactrian camels occur on stone seal-amulets from the Sapalli-tepe burial (Askarov 1977, 120, pi. XLV, 13) and also copper figures (Pittman 1984, 43; figs. 10, 11; Salvatori 1989).
Where was the domestication center of this animal species located? S. N. Bogolyubsky (1929, 14, 15) located the Bactrian camel’s original home in the Eurasian Steppe, between 40° and 50° latitude north of the equator. My assumption has been that the domestication center of the Bactrian camel was in Central Asia and Kazakhstan (Kuzmina 1963a, 39, 40). F. Bulliet, B. Compagnoni, and M. Tosi outline an area that includes Central Asia and Central and Eastern Iran (Bulliet 1975, 141, 148; Compagnoni, Tosi 1978, 87-100).
At the settlement of Shakhr-i-Sokhta in Sistan in phase VII and VI levels, dating from 2700-2600 and 2600-2500 B. c., respectively, several bones of undetermined species were found, as well as camel dimg and camel hair used for yam, neither of which can help identify the camel species. The authors do not rule out the possibility that the animal from Shakhr-i-Sokhta was a Bactrian camel (Compagnoni, Tosi 1978, 91-95; fig. 1, 2, 4). In Southern Iran, at Khurab, a copper axe whose head featured the representation of a camel was discovered (Maxwell-Hyslop 1955, 161; Zeuner 1955, 162, 163; pi. XXXVI). The animal’s appearance has stirred up a dispute: only one hump is distincdy visible, but the camel’s form is similar to that of the Bactrian camel. The date of the Khurabian head is also disputed: C. Lamberg-Karlovsky assigned it to 2600-2400 B. c. (1969, 163-68), whereas E. During Caspers (1971, 60-64) dated it to the early third millennium b. c.
As unquestionable evidence of the familiarity of the Iranian population with the Bactrian camel, the discovery of Bactrian camel hones at the Shah-tepe settlement in level III dating back to the mid-third millennium B. C. is useful. According to W. Amchler (1939, 80, 122), the Bactrian camel appeared at the Caspian Sea Southeast Littoral as a result of borrowing from the peoples of Northeast Turkestan, its original home.
V. I. Tsalkin (1970a, 156, 157) believed that Central Asia could not have been the center of the domestication of the Bactrian camel because he was not aware of camel hones in the Mesolithic and Neolithic levels, “which could evidence its diffusion into this territory in a wild state. Thus the possibility of its local domestication is also ruled out.” At the present time the situation has changed: bones of the wild camel Camelus Knoblochi-Nering were determined at the paleolithic site of Samarkand (Lev 1972, 17-29). Bactrian camel bones were discovered at the Neolithic burial ground of Tumek-Kichidjik in the delta of the Amu Darya (Vinogradov 1974, 500, determination by N. M. Ermolina) and at the Kelteminar site of Tolstova in Khorezm (excavations by A. V. Vinogradov, determination by V. I. Bibikova). One should also keep in mind that the ecological conditions in Central Asia are quite suitable for this species to live here in a wild state, and also that Central Asia is situated near the present-day home of the wild Bactrian camel, whose range has diminished during the historical period. Most important, though, it is in Central Asia that the most ancient bones of the already domesticated Bactrian camel in the Old World, dating from the fourth to third millennium B. c., were discovered, as are all the most ancient indisputable representations of this animal dating back to the third to second millennium b. c. These findings of bones and figures are numerous, not isolated. The representations of Bactrian camels harnessed to vehicles, which have no parallels in the entire Old World, bear out the wide economic use of the camel as a transport animal in this region (Kuzmina 1980b).
All these lines of evidence lead one to acknowledge that Central Asia was certainly the principal center of the domestication of the Bactrian camel. It is possible that Afghanistan and some eastern regions of Iran were also part of the most ancient zone of the use of Bactrian camels. As previously mentioned, the Near East in ancient times was the home of the one-humped camel, the dromedary, while the Bactrian camel was practically unknown there until the late second millennium B. c.®
The oldest and most unusual representation of the Bactrian camel is the Mesopotamian cylindrical seal of 1800-1400 B. C., which features two men sitting face to face on the Bactrian camel’s humps (Bulliet 1975, 62; fig. 20). All other representations and mentions of the Bactrian camel in the Western Asian texts date only from the Assyrian period. This data has been repeatedly cited in the literature (Kuzmina 1963a; Yankovskaya 1956, 40; Salonen 1956; Walz 1951; 1954; Lucken-bill 1927; Horn 1950; 1952; Lambert 1960; Bulliet 1975, 153-59).
The most ancient written information concerning the Bactrian camel is contained in the Kuyunjik inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 B. c.) and a document of the Assyrian king Ashurhelkal (1074-1057 B. C.), about a purchase of Bactrian camels from merchants involved in trading with the East. After that, Bactrian camels are recorded in the inscriptions and annals of Ashurnasirpal I (1050-1032 B. C.), Shalmaneser III (858-824 B. c.), Shamshi-Adad V (823-811 B. C.), and Sargon II (721-705 b. c.). Representations of Bactrian camels appeared in Assyria in the early first millennium B. C.: they are foimd on the Black obelisk in Nimrud, on the gates of Balawat, in the relief in a military camp in Kuyunjik, and also on seals from the period of Shalmaneser III. The texts declare that camels came into Assyria as a tribute from the East.
In the early Assyrian documents the Bactrian camel is called by the Semitic word denoting the dromedary, gammlu, but with a note that it is two-humped; in the eleventh century B. c. the term ndru appeared, which goes back to the Iranian name of the Bactrian camel (Salonen 1956, 85-87; Kent 1953, 118, 178). This is important linguistic evidence of the fact that, first, the Bactrian camel became known in Western Asia only in the late second millennium b. c., and, second, that the Semitic peoples became acquainted with this animal through contact with Iranian-speaking people, from whose language its name was derived. These linguistic data correspond well with the hypothesis that it was in this time that the Iranian-speaking people appeared in the territory of Iran and advanced gradually westward, bringing with them Bactrian camels and horses, which is reflected archaeologically in the spread of representations of these animals in Iran in the early first millennium B. C. {7000 ans: 78, pi. XXXI: 3); the cult of these animals among the Iranian-speaking peoples was well established and survived into the Achaemenid and following periods (Kuzmina 1963a, 42, 43; 1978a, 103-8; Ohel’chenko 1978, 68-81; Kadyrhaev, Maryashev 1977, 176, 177; Korol’kova 1998, 137-49).
In connection with the issue of the establishment of the ancient range of Bactrian camels, it is important to emphasize that the Achaemenid reliefs of Persepolis represent Bactrian camels as a tribute of the Parthians, Arahosians, and Aryans (Schmidt 1953, pis. 19, 30, 33, 39, 41; 1970, 148-49), i. e., the boundaries of the spread of this species remained almost untouched as against the Eneolithic period, which validates the hypothesis about the localization of the Bactrian camel’s original home in Central Asia and, possibly, in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran.
Thus, archaeological data has established that in Central Asia, the Bactrian camel was domesticated in the fourth millennium B. c. and in the third to second millennium B. c. was widely employed as draft power for harnessing to vehicles with solid wheels, a distinguishing feature of wheeled transport in Central Asia in the Bronze Age (Fig. 34). Evidently, from the farmers of Central Asia, the camel, already in a domesticated state, was borrowed by the people of the Andronovo Culture, who used it as draft power for vehicles, as reflected in the petro-glyphs and plastic art of Khorezm and Kazakhstan (Itina 1977, 90; Kuzmina 1994c, 203, 257; figs. 34: 10, 11; 55: 8, 9).
World History
