ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses utilization of domesticated donkeys (Equus asinus) for local exchange and its ideological aspects on EB Age society. It reviews data concerning the extent of use of these animals as beasts of burden and and the existence of a specialized social stratum or group of persons related to their use. Amiran (1985) and Ovadia (1992) have previously suggested that domestication of donkeys began in this period, and with it the innovation of pack transportation by animals, was likely to have engendered such a class of people related to it, and to a special cult reflecting their activity. This interpretation is based on both faunal remains and miniature, artistic-cultic representations from the archaeological record and bolstered with additional ancient Near Eastern sources and ethnographical examples thought likely to represent analogous situations.
