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0240 Explorations in Turkestan : Expedition of 1904 : vol.2
Explorations in Turkestan : Expedition of 1904 : vol.2 / Page 240 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000178
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in the ass the "spur" is wanting on all the teeth, while the equid of Auvernier
has it on all the premolars and on the third molar. It is noteworthy, though
without value in distinguishing between species, that the ass of Abadieh has the
first premolar, which is not frequent at this age. I find no differences in the inci-
sors, which are fully present in both skulls. The incisive part of the Auvernier
equid is, with a width of 62 mm., somewhat wider than that of the ass, which
measures only 52 mm. The equid of Auvernier had during life a broader muzzle
than the ass, again recalling the horse, which, especially in the diluvial horse,
had a very broad muzzle, broader than is shown in recent horses (83 to 88 mm.,
Nehring, op. cit., p. 90).

The equid of Auvernier is thus shown to differ in its principal points from
the ass of Abadieh and must, therefore, be regarded as a horse and no longer as
an ass. We may see confirmatory evidence that it is a horse that was used by
the people of Auvernier, in the size of a bronze bit from the pile-dwelling of
Möhringen on the same Lake of Bienne; this measures 9 cm., while the maxilla
where the snaffle lies measures 5.1 cm. Moreover, Marek* has published a series
of skulls from stations of the same age, as well as later (among them a plaster
cast of the Auvernier horse), which are classed by him as Helveto-Gallic horses.

If it has been shown that Rütimeyer erred in his determination of the Auvernier
skull, it is now easy to prove the same in the case of Sanson. Two skulls in the
Galerie de Paléontologie of the Museum in Paris belong, in dimensions and in
form, to the same variety of horse as that of Auvernier, and their special charac-
teristics will now be considered.

We can take up the thread of our argument at the point where we left it
(p. 403) in order to identify these two skulls, which, if they had been African
asses, would have been of fundamental importance as to the distribution of domes-
tic animals in prehistoric times.

(b) The copper time of the bronze age brought to Europe the small, slender-
limbed horses whose domesticated condition is for the first time certain; and
which is proved also to have existed in:

(c) The La Tène Period (iron) and which have been already treated by Studer,†
Marek,‡ Kraemer,§ and others.

(d) The Hallstatt Period seems, probably on account of the heavier armor
of the cavalry of that time, to bring us already the heavy type of horse that we
find in Roman times at Vindonissa; at least the skull from Schuettarschen, which
will soon be treated of, differs in several respects from those of the bronze and
La Tène periods. Unfortunately we have from Schuettarschen no bones of the
extremities to aid in more exact discrimination.

(e) The Roman Times bring us better, more abundant material, as we shall
see in the finds from Vindonissa.