conference

PRIFYSGOL CYMRU ABERTAWE,
UNIVERSITY OF WALES SWANSEA.

Keeping the Horse in Front of the Chariot: Experiments and Observations on Harnessing and Handling Horses in Ancient Egypt.

Pauline Norris

Early harness systems were based on the use of the ox as the source of motive power. The anatomy of the bovine species differs greatly from that of the equine species and the ox harness was unsuitable and inefficient for use with horses.

In 1983 Spruytte published a short treatise about his experiments in testing the harness systems depicted in Egyptian art and the first part of the paper examines these experiments.

The second part looks at what can be learned from Egyptian art about how well the Egyptians understood the behaviour of horses and how this influenced the ways in which they handled their animals. A number of depictions may have been misinterpreted by earlier researchers and some alternative interpretations are suggested.

_________________________________________________________________________

Back to list of Speakers

Back To Events

Back to Title Page