EUROPEAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS KELLER. 487 



from tliG Indian wolf. It is easily demonstrated that the original 

 home of the great "dogge" is to be found in the highlands of Tibet. 

 They became established in Europe at the time of Alexander the 

 Groat, and appeared in our northern iVlps at the beginning of the 

 first century, where they were distributed b}^ the Romans. They 

 ha"\'e been demonstrated in the Roman-Helvetian colony of Vin- 

 donissa and in southern Germany. 



That the domestic goat, which was kept by the oldest Lake Dwel- 

 lers, is of west Asiatic origin, and derived from the Bezoar goat, is 

 universally acknowledged. It came through the Aegean Islands. 



In very early times, during the Mycenian period, wool sheep 

 reached Greece and the rest of southern Europe. The story of the 

 ''Golden Fleece" points toward Colchis, to the east of the Black Sea, 

 as its original home, and zoogeographic facts point favorably ia 

 that dkection. 



As for our pigs, the investigations of Riitimeyer and Nathusius 

 have proved that even in prehistoric times Asiatic blood reached 

 Europe. The banded pig {Sus vittatus) distributed over southeast 

 Asia is the wild pig from which the domesticated Asiatic pig has been 

 developed. All doubts about this are dispelled by the anatomic 

 facts of the case. Southern Europe has always kept these pigs to the 

 exclusion of all others. I was able to demonstrate their presence in 

 the iEgean Archipelago, even as far back as the neolithic period. The 

 examination which I conducted upon the skulls of the Spanish and 

 Sardmian domesticated pigs showed that even to-day the Asiatic 

 race has retained its pure strain in the Mediterranean region. It 

 was long unknown which ocean route had been used in the transpor- 

 tation of this anunal, in so far as the Semitic culture of Mesopotamia 

 probably refused this domestic animal. Lippert expressed the 

 opinion that it might have reached the west along the northern border 

 of Mesopotamia. The investigations of J. U. Diirst upon the bone 

 remains from the old culture strata of Anau in Turkestan have sub- 

 stantiated these opmions in every way. 



There can be no doubt that Asia gave to Europe from its wealth of 

 domesticated horses. The dainty oriental horses prevail over others 

 even to-day in the east and south of our continent. But whether, in 

 addition to the Przewalsky horse, another ancestral horse wUl have to 

 be considered has not been completely established as yet. But that 

 horses were first domesticated in the ulterior of Asia has been estab- 

 lished from the historic cultural fact that the domestic horse appeared 

 first in large numbers, historically considered, in the interior of Asia. 



The prehistoric presence of the domestic horse is known for Turk- 

 estan, where it occurs in the very oldest culture strata. This has the 

 characters of the oriental horse and was of small size. It may have 

 become distributed over Asia Minor at an early period, whence it 



