148 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



horned, and medium-tailed turbary sheep, which, 

 if these conclusions be well established, is thus 

 proved to have been indigenous to southern 

 Turkestan ; this conclusion being in accord with 

 the Asiatic origin of the inhabitants of the Pre- 

 historic Pfahlbauten, by whom we must presume 

 these small goat-horned sheep were carried to 

 Europe. It also accords with the theory, referred 

 to in the next chapter, that the domesticated short- 

 tailed sheep of Tibet and the Eastern Himalaya 

 are sprung from the wild urial of those regions. 



There is, however, another interesting point in 

 connection with the turbary sheep. In his paper 

 on the origin of the Biindner and turbary sheep 

 Dr. Keller' has given an illustration, reproduced 

 in pi. xi. fig. I, of a group of sheep engraved 

 on a piece of ivory from a tomb at Menidi, north 

 of Athens, belonging to the Mycenean period. 

 Although the drawing, as Dr. Keller remarks, 

 cannot be regarded as faultless, these sheep are 

 characterised by their relatively long, sharp-edged, 

 and somewhat goat-like horns, which curve back- 

 wards behind the neck in a peculiar manner, and 

 likewise by the length of the tail, which reaches 

 approximately to the hocks. In the shape of the 

 horns they present a remarkable resemblance to 

 the skull of the Biindner ram in pi. x. fig. 2 ; 

 and this formerly led Dr. Keller to regard these 

 ' op. cit., p. 9. 



