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EXPLORATIONS IN TURKESTAN

EXPLORATIONS IN TURKESTAN

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442 ANIMAL REMA<strong>IN</strong>S FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT ANAU.<br />

nor should we need the corroborative evidence of the terra-cotta figurines of cattle<br />

that were used in Anau 3000 B. C. In any event we may be permitted to suggest<br />

this hypothesis, leaving its fate to be decided after further investigations.<br />

In the cattle-cult of the followers of Zoroaster-the Parsees-whose ancestors<br />

down to the end of the Sassanian dynasty ruled over Anau, we may see an especially<br />

important point in connection with precedents of the culture-sphere of ancient<br />

Turkestan. The Zend-Avesta contains a hymn lauding the value of cattle, which<br />

may indicate that a people who could hold cattle in such high estimation in their<br />

own culture might really have accomplished the domestication of the ox.<br />

"In the ox is our strength, in the ox is our speech,<br />

in the ox is our victory, in the ox is our nourishment,<br />

in the ox is our clothing, in the ox is our agriculture<br />

which furnishes to us food."

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