The human condition from the beginning depended upon animals for food, clothing, and shelter. However, little progress was made for millions of years until animals were hitched in harness 4-5,000 years ago. Not according to some. Of the more than 100 persons asked this question in the Mule History Research Project interviews, only one answered in the affirmative. As these lines are written, I sit before a good fire in a fireplace supplemented by an automatic gas furnace.
Outside temperature remains below zero where it has lingered most of a week.
An inventory of the furnishings and gadgetry within these walls reveals only two items, wood and fire, that were available to mankind before the discovery of the animal bridge. Man's pre-work animal life expectancy is unknown, but it was likely to have been in the 20s. Ours was 51 years at the beginning of this century. Let's count our blessings and remember that these faithful animals got us here. No human groups made much progress without extensive use of animal power to supplement their own brawn.