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Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> Sean Kelly wrote:
>> Christopher Wright wrote:
>>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>>> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>>>> My list:
>>>>>
>>>>> - wheel
>>>>> - fire
>>>>> - smelting metals
>>>>> - writing
>>>>> - arithmetic
>>>>
>>>> But humans had fire 20,000 years ago! I think fire goes back a lot
>>>> longer than that. I also suspect that simple arithmetic is innate,
>>>> although a numbering system is not (see Mayan and Roman number
>>>> systems).
>>>>
>>>> Wouldn't the wheel be useless to a hunter-gatherer tribe?
>>>
>>> If they are nomadic, wheels allow an individual to carry much more
>>> equipment. This allows them to store up surplus food more easily and
>>> safely. This in turn safeguards them from famine and allows for
>>> excess food to diversify roles in the community to a greater degree.
>>> Additionally, it means that the writing equipment that you supplied
>>> gets used, and the texts don't get tossed as soon as they move.
>>
>> I don't buy it. Most foods would spoil too quickly for this to
>> matter, the wagons would be slow, wheels would need repair, etc. If I
>> were in a nomadic tribe I wouldn't do more than pile stuff on the back
>> of a Mule.
>
> When did you tame the mule??? :o)
>
AFAIK, it's more a question of "when did you *breed* the mule?" ;)
Mules are the result of breeding a horse with a donkey (one way or
the other although using a male donkey and a female horse has more
chance of success) and they are exceedingly rare in nature.
So what you actually need to do is first to tame the horse and the
donkey, *then* you can breed them to get a mule.
Jerome
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