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[German version] I. General Cloven-hoofed animal of the Old World from the hot deserts and steppes of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula ( Camelus dromedarius, one-humped) and the cold deserts of South-West and Central Asia ( Camelus bactrianus, two-humped): various anatomical and physiological adaptations to extreme climates. The camel descends from a North American fossil type ( Protolabis) that migrated to Eurasia c. three million years ago. Wild camels were common from Central Asia to North Africa (bone finds). Fertile cross-breedings between the dromeda…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient (Egypt, South-West Asia, India) Archaeologically attested since the Neolithic and documented since the 3rd millennium BC, long-distance or overland commerce -- as opposed to exchange and allocation of goods on a local level according to daily needs -- was founded on the necessity for ensuring the supply of so-called strategic goods (metal, building timber) not available domestically, as well as on the demand for luxury and prestige goods, or the materials required for producing them. In historical times, the organization of commerce was a…