Mules and mules, which are females or male hybrids respectively of horse and donkey and generally of male and female donkeys (male and female donkeys are less common and called burdéganos), are animals highly prized for their resistance and ease of feeding and have lived with humans for about three thousand years, when they were abandoned. Produced in Asia Minor. Since those ancient ancestors who appeared in Iliad And in the Bible, and in the Roman army (where the legionaries were called “Mariu’s Mules”, for the effort to which they were required and for the name of the general and consul who reformed the military forces of the Republic) to the Far West type Two mules and one woman Las of Burma goalThe strain of suffering and equal thirds has produced individuals real and imagined as popular as the Barlancina mall francis, The decorated mule of the Middlesex Regiment jameson, Hero of the war against the Boers Conchita, Juan Valdez’s famous coffee mule.
Now, an intriguing unknown mule dating back 2,800 years ago comes to shed light on the history of these hybrids being generally, though not always, sterile. It is the complete skeleton of a sacred specimen originally excavated in 1986 in a silo reused as a tomb in the Hort d’en Grimau deposit, in Castellví de la Marca (Pénedes, Barcelona) in association with human remains. An animal that has been the subject of comprehensive analysis by scientists from Seminar of Prehistoric Studies and Research and the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Barcelona (UB), described in an article published in the journal Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports As the oldest mule in the western Mediterranean and continental Europe. It will be preceded by three other abbreviations established by ancient ones in this geographic space dating back to Romanization.
Researchers have closed the individual between the eighth and sixth Siglos before Christ, during the first era of Hiero, the moment when the Phoenicians introduced the donkey to the Iberian Peninsula. These data may mean, if we remember, that knowledge of animal hybridization came to Europe, from the Near East, earlier than thought.
The remains of the mule, preserved in the Museo de las Cultura del Fino de Catalunya in Vilafranca del Penedes (Venicium), consist of 712 bones with anatomical connection that form a complete skeleton of the animal. The mule, an old man over eight years old, was placed in a silo, and under it and an accumulation of stones, the body of a young woman aged between 20 and 25 years was disposed of, of which 687 bone pieces were preserved, showing signs of cremation. Accordingly, 12 small handmade pottery pieces were found in the silo, which appear to have been deliberately placed and represent at least three containers.
The mule appears to be a creature humble enough to climb mountains, but it is actually an animal of great interest to science. The first generation of these hybrids rarely appears in the archaeological record, and have now only been identified in continental Europe and the western Mediterranean at the time of the Second Period (500 BC – 200 BC) and in Romanized contexts. There has always been a hybrid case resulting from the crossing of a donkey and a female, and it is only known in the archaeological record of the case of Burdigano (let us remember: the crossing of a donkey and a seed), on a Byzantine farm in Yenikapi, a district of Istanbul. The Brenes of donkeys in a hybrid relationship are much more complex than those of the Yigua (which helps the donkey’s natural genetic keenness) and it is estimated that only one of each series can become pregnant after being covered by a horse, which is also an easy process.
Mules and mules are always sterile, the reason being the different number of chromosomes of their ancestors, 62 donkeys and 64 horses, although, as I said, mules (and not mules) can sometimes produce fertilized eggs and have offspring, but they do not light mules or other mules, there are hybrids like them, such as ponies (if a mule is fertilized by a horse) or pollen (if a mule is fertilized by a horse it makes a donkey).
In the new investigation of the Penedes mule that provided evidence for the article, the animal was radiocarbon dated, its genetic identity was verified and an interdisciplinary study was carried out on a taxonomic, morphological and pathological scale and on the diet of the specimen on the basis of stable isotopes. The context of the hall and the presence of Phoenician materials in the cistern and other nearby places link the area to the trade of this pueblo. Now, the investigation recalled, the ass was introduced in abundance from the eighth to the third century into the Iberian Peninsula by means of trade networks – factories and colonies – established by the Venetians along the Mediterranean and at points along the coast of the peninsula. The Phoenicians also introduced chicken.
The hybridization of horses, which began five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia with the first generation of hybrids born from donkeys (donkeys) and wildebeests (similar wild animals), allowed the transportation of animals such as mules, which are better adapted to arid climates than horses and are more resistant. Scientists have discovered that the Catalan farm mule was used for transport like a horse (showing signs of jaw injuries caused by livestock) and fed fodder and kept in a stable. It was considered that this female could be the result of a hybrid produced on the peninsula from the cross site Of local horses and imported donkeys. Although it cannot be ruled out that the mule was born and arrived directly, perhaps by boat. The animal does not show lesions indicating the cause of its death.
In the investigation, which was led by UB, scientists from the Center for Anthropology and Genomics in Toulouse (France), the University of Coruña and Extremadura also participated.