Disir
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History records the deeds of faithful horses, whereas it relegates their equine cousins, the donkeys, to the role of mere pack animals. But a new analysis of bones buried with a ninth century Chinese noblewoman may help raise the status of the lowly ass: It may have served as her steed during polo matches in the royal court.
“It is about time that donkeys are getting their due recognition,” says Sandra Olsen, an archaeologist at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Museum of Natural History who wasn’t involved with the work. She calls the new finding of their role in ancient sports “particularly exciting.”
In 2012, a team of Chinese archaeologists in Xi’an, the ancient capital of the Tang dynasty, excavated the bricked-in tomb of a woman named Cui Shi, who, according to official records, died at the age of 59 on 6 October 878 C.E. Murals on her tomb walls of workers preparing a sumptuous feast suggest she was of high status. Although looters had ransacked the tomb, they left behind a bevy of animal bones, including those of at least three donkeys.
‘Polo-obsessed’ Chinese noblewoman buried with her donkey steed | Science | AAAS
I had no idea, or cared, polo went that far back.
“It is about time that donkeys are getting their due recognition,” says Sandra Olsen, an archaeologist at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Museum of Natural History who wasn’t involved with the work. She calls the new finding of their role in ancient sports “particularly exciting.”
In 2012, a team of Chinese archaeologists in Xi’an, the ancient capital of the Tang dynasty, excavated the bricked-in tomb of a woman named Cui Shi, who, according to official records, died at the age of 59 on 6 October 878 C.E. Murals on her tomb walls of workers preparing a sumptuous feast suggest she was of high status. Although looters had ransacked the tomb, they left behind a bevy of animal bones, including those of at least three donkeys.
‘Polo-obsessed’ Chinese noblewoman buried with her donkey steed | Science | AAAS
I had no idea, or cared, polo went that far back.
