How to translate text using browser tools
1 December 2014 Caravans, camel wrestling and cowrie shells: towards a social zooarchaeology of camel hybridization in anatolia and adjacent eegions
Canan Çakırlar, Rémi Berthon
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Hybrid camels, intentional crosses between dromedaries and bactrian camels, are prized for their robustness and endurance. They were the prime vehicles of short and long distance caravan trade in a large area between Greece and Mongolia until the whole-scale introduction of motorized transport. This paper proposes a model for the zooarchaeological study of camel hybridization as a culture-historical phenomenon based on ethnographic and ethnohistoric observations of camel wrestling. Camel wrestling spectacles involve large audiences who gather in large arenas to watch first generation male hybrid camels wrestle during the mating season. While Anatolia was chosen as a case region for testing the model, it can be applied to all regions where hybrids are expected to occur in the archaeological record.

© Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
Canan Çakırlar and Rémi Berthon "Caravans, camel wrestling and cowrie shells: towards a social zooarchaeology of camel hybridization in anatolia and adjacent eegions," Anthropozoologica 49(2), 237-252, (1 December 2014). https://doi.org/10.5252/az2014n2a06
Received: 1 December 2013; Accepted: 1 March 2014; Published: 1 December 2014
JOURNAL ARTICLE
16 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
Bactrian camel
chameau de Bactriane
commerce à longue distance
congregation
Dromadaire
Dromedary
hybrid camels
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top