Editing Camel (section)

===History===

When humans first domesticated camels is disputed. Dromedaries may have first been domesticated by humans in [[Somalia]] or [[South Arabia]] sometime during the [[3rd millennium BC]], the Bactrian in [[central Asia]] around 2,500&nbsp;BC,<ref name="mukasa81">{{cite book | publisher = International Livestock Centre for Africa | volume = 5 | last = Mukasa-Mugerwa | first = E. | title = The Camel (Camelus Dromedarius): A Bibliographical Review | location = Ethiopia | series = International Livestock Centre for Africa Monograph | year = 1981 |pages=1, 3, 20–21, 65, 67–68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World|first=Chris|last=Scarre|date=15 September 1993|isbn=978-1-56458-305-5|page=176|quote=Both the dromedary (the seven-humped camel of Arabia) and the Bactrian camel (the two-humped camel of Central Asia) had been domesticated since before 2000 BC.|publisher=D. Kindersley|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Camel and the Wheel|first=Richard |last=Bulliet |series=Morningside Book Series |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=20 May 1990 |orig-date=1975 |page=183 |isbn=978-0-231-07235-9|quote=As has already been mentioned, this type of utilization [camels pulling wagons] goes back to the earliest known period of two-humped camel domestication in the third millennium B.C.}}—Note that Bulliet has many more references to early use of camels</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA120 |title=Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader |isbn=9781575060835 |access-date=2016-01-08|last1=Richard |first1=Suzanne |year=2003 |publisher=Eisenbrauns }}</ref> as at Shar-i Sokhta (also known as the Burnt City), [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hirst|first=K. Kris|title=Camels|url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/cterms/g/camels.htm|work=About.com Archaeology|access-date=6 February 2014|archive-date=5 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105002229/http://archaeology.about.com/od/cterms/g/camels.htm}}</ref> A study from 2016, which genotyped and used world-wide sequencing of modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), suggested that they were initially domesticated in the southeast Arabian Peninsula,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Almathen |first1=Faisal |last2=Charruau |first2=Pauline |last3=Mohandesan |first3=Elmira |last4=Mwacharo |first4=Joram M. |last5=Orozco-terWengel |first5=Pablo |last6=Pitt |first6=Daniel |last7=Abdussamad |first7=Abdussamad M. |last8=Uerpmann |first8=Margarethe |last9=Uerpmann |first9=Hans-Peter |last10=De Cupere |first10=Bea |last11=Magee |first11=Peter |last12=Alnaqeeb |first12=Majed A. |last13=Salim |first13=Bashir |last14=Raziq |first14=Abdul |last15=Dessie |first15=Tadelle |date=2016-06-14 |title=Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication and cross-continental dispersal of the dromedary |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=113 |issue=24 |pages=6707–6712 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1519508113 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=4914195 |pmid=27162355 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.6707A |doi-access=free }}</ref> with the Bactrian type later being domesticated around Central Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ming |first1=Liang |last2=Yuan |first2=Liyun |last3=Yi |first3=Li |last4=Ding |first4=Guohui |last5=Hasi |first5=Surong |last6=Chen |first6=Gangliang |last7=Jambl |first7=Tuyatsetseg |last8=Hedayat-Evright |first8=Nemat |last9=Batmunkh |first9=Mijiddorj |last10=Badmaevna |first10=Garyaeva Khongr |last11=Gan-Erdene |first11=Tudeviin |last12=Ts |first12=Batsukh |last13=Zhang |first13=Wenbin |last14=Zulipikaer |first14=Azhati |last15=Hosblig |date=2020-01-07 |title=Whole-genome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia reveals origin and migration of domestic Bactrian camels |journal=Communications Biology |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.1038/s42003-019-0734-6 |pmid=31925316 |pmc=6946651 |issn=2399-3642|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Martin Heide's 2010 work on the domestication of the camel tentatively concludes that humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium somewhere east of the [[Zagros Mountains]], with the practice then moving into Mesopotamia. Heide suggests that mentions of camels "in the patriarchal narratives may refer, at least in some places, to the Bactrian camel", while noting that the camel is not mentioned in relationship to [[Canaan]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Heide | first1 = Martin | year = 2011 | title = The Domestication of the Camel: Biological, Archaeological and Inscriptional Evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel and Arabia, and Literary Evidence from the Hebrew Bible | journal = Ugarit-Forschungen | volume = 42 | pages = 367–68 | doi =10.13140/2.1.2090.8161 }}</ref> Heide and Joris Peters reasserted that conclusion in their 2021 study on the subject.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Camels in the Biblical World |last1=Heide |first1=Martin |publisher=Penn State Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-64602-169-7 |pages=302 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXM5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT287 |last2=Peters |first2=Joris}}</ref>

In 2009–2013, excavations in the [[Timna Valley]] by Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones yet found in Israel or even outside the [[Arabian Peninsula]], dating to around 930&nbsp;BC. This garnered considerable media coverage, as it is strong evidence that the stories of [[Abraham]], [[Jacob]], [[Esau]], and [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] were [[Historicity of the Bible|written after this time]].<ref name=camels>{{cite news|last= Hasson|first= Nir|title= Hump stump solved: Camels arrived in region much later than biblical reference|url= http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/.premium-1.569091|access-date= 30 January 2014|newspaper= Haaretz|date=Jan 17, 2014|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140130113055/http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/.premium-1.569091|archive-date= 30 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Sapir-Hen 2013 277–285">{{cite journal|last= Sapir-Hen|first= Lidar|author2= Erez Ben-Yosef|title= The Introduction of Domestic Camels to the Southern Levant: Evidence from the Aravah Valley|journal= Tel Aviv|year= 2013|volume= 40|issue= 2|pages= 277–285|url= http://archaeology.tau.ac.il/ben-yosef/pub/Pub_PDFs/Sapir-Hen&Ben-Yosef13_CamelAravah_TelAviv.pdf |access-date= 16 February 2014|doi= 10.1179/033443513x13753505864089|s2cid= 44282748|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140223011636/http://archaeology.tau.ac.il/ben-yosef/pub/Pub_PDFs/Sapir-Hen%26Ben-Yosef13_CamelAravah_TelAviv.pdf|archive-date=23 February 2014}}</ref>

The existence of camels in Mesopotamia—but not in the eastern Mediterranean lands—is not a new idea. The historian [[Richard Bulliet]] did not think that the occasional mention of camels in the Bible meant that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time.<ref name=Time>{{cite news|last= Dias|first= Elizabeth|title= The Mystery of the Bible's Phantom Camels|url= http://world.time.com/2014/02/11/the-mystery-of-the-bibles-phantom-camels/|access-date= 22 February 2014|newspaper= Time|date =Feb 11, 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140215013057/http://world.time.com/2014/02/11/the-mystery-of-the-bibles-phantom-camels/|archive-date= 15 February 2014}}</ref> The archaeologist [[William F. Albright]], writing even earlier, saw camels in the Bible as an [[anachronism]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Heide | first1 = Martin | year = 2011 | title = The Domestication of the Camel: Biological, Archaeological and Inscriptional Evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel and Arabia, and Literary Evidence from the Hebrew Bible | journal = Ugarit-Forschungen | volume = 42 | page = 368 }}</ref>

The official report by Sapir-Hen and Ben-Joseph says:

<blockquote>The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the [[southern Levant]] ... substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112–116; Jasmin 2005). This ... has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558–584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler-Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early [[Iron Age]] (not before the 12th century [BC])</blockquote>

and concludes:

<blockquote>Current data from copper smelting sites of the [[Aravah Valley]] enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dates]]. The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century [BC] and most probably during this time. The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region—attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh [[Shoshenq I]]—raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade.<ref name="Sapir-Hen 2013 277–285"/></blockquote>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Camel cart.JPG|alt= A camel harnessed to a cart loaded with branches and twigs|A camel serving as a [[Working animal|draft animal]] in [[Pakistan]] (2009)
File:A camel with its rider playing kettle drums..jpg|alt= A painting of a man sitting on a camel and playing the drums|A camel in a ceremonial procession, its rider playing [[kettledrum]]s, [[Mughal Empire]] (c. 1840)
File:Negev camel petroglyph.jpg|Petroglyph of a camel, [[Negev]], southern [[Israel]] (prior to c. 5300 BC)
File:Bartholomeus Breenbergh 002.jpg|''Joseph Sells Grain'' by [[Bartholomeus Breenbergh]] (1655), showing camel with rider at left
</gallery>