Plural: Aurochsen) Is an Extinct Member of the Genus Bos and the Ancestor of the Domestic Cattle

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CHAPTER SIX

BOS PRIMIGENIUS, THE AUROCHS

6.1 The Living Animal

6.1.1 Zoology The aurochs (plural: aurochsen) is an extinct member of the genus Bos and the ancestor of the domestic cattle. It had disappeared from the Indian subcontinent already by about 2,000 years ago if not ear- lier, but it survived in western and central Europe until the Middle Ages. Its decline was likely due to a combination of habitat alteration and hunting. At present, there are some retro-bred aurochsen in zoos (ﬁ g. 107), descendants of the so-called Heck cattle. The latter were cre- ated around 1920 by Heinz Heck at the Hellabrunn Zoological Gardens of Munich, Germany and further developed by his brother Lutz Heck at the Berlin Zoological Gardens, supported by the Nazis who needed the aurochsen to promote an idyllic history of an original Aryan nation. From these retro-bred aurochsen some cautious conclusions can be drawn about their appearance, behaviour and biology. Furthermore, a portrait painting after a living aurochs has been preserved, made in Poland in 1627,1 in addition to the prehistoric cave paintings from Southern France (ﬁ g. 108). The aurochs was in any case a large animal with a shoulder height of about 1.8 m in bulls. The body must have been massive and impres- sive, weighing up to 1,000 kg, with stout though rather long limbs, a straight back, and a long, tufted tail. The front part of the animal was more massive than the hindquarters as in the Indian bison (Bos gaurus). The head was slender and bore cylindrical, hollow horns in both sexes, which were larger in bulls than in cows. The pointed, sturdy horns were as long as 0.8 m and curved anteriorly and upwards in a typical way. Aurochsen lived in the open forests and on meadows.

1 The painting was discovered in 1827 by H. Smith in an antiquities shop; see M. Hilzheimer, “Wie hat der Ur ausgesehen?,” Jahrbuch Wiss. Prakt. Tierzucht 5 (1910), 42–93. 112 BOS PRIMIGENIUS

The aurochs of India is sometimes considered to be a different spe- cies (Bos namadicus), of which fossils are found in Pleistocene deposits in India, and which is considered by some scholars as ancestral to the domestic zebu.2

6.1.2 Role of Aurochsen in Society Not much can be said with certainty about the relation between aurochsen and Indian peoples, because of the disappearance of the fi rst from the subcontinent already long time ago, most likely even before the historical period. This relation is much better known for Europe, where it was depicted over a vast time span, ranging from the prehistoric cave paintings to the seventeenth century and described since the early historical period. The aurochs was an important game animal as is evident from their representation in art and from available texts. Most likely, the aurochs was hunted in South Asia as well. In addition, the aurochs may have had a religious importance. It has been suggested that the sacrifi cial aurochsen were lured to the village by putting salt supplies as a bait.3 Their natural craving for salt encourages the animals to come to the village, where they get used to human pres- ence. Such a practice has been described for the wild mithans (gayals) in the Assam hills;4 the villagers use the mithans for sacrifi ce only and do not eat or milk them. Rituals around bull sacrifi ce and the use of its blood therein are known from ancient cultures in western Asia and around the Mediterranean.5

6.2 Aurochsen in Stone

A large number of steatite seals from the Indus Valley, Pakistan, depict a large male bovid with a typically curved horn, e.g. from Mohenjo-daro (2,300–1,750 B.C.E.; ﬁ g. 109, above and below, left), from Chanhu-daro (2,600–1,900 B.C.E.),6 and from Harappa (2,300–1,750 B.C.E.; ﬁ g. 109,

2 Clutton-Brock, op. cit. (1981), 64; Grigson, “Size and sex: evidence for the domes- tication of cattle in the Near East,” (1989), 77–109. See further Chapter 5. 3 Clutton-Brock, op. cit. (1981), 67. 4 J. Simmoons, A ceremonial ox of India (Wisconsin, 1968). See further Chapter 4. 5 See also section 5.1.3.3. 6 New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, cat. no. 49.40.1.