Nothing beats a human for long distance travel ability on land. Birds go farther, but they fly. Many animals can sprint faster, but on the timescale of a few days all land animals would drop dead trying to keep up with a human walking. Sure the pace is slow, and the amount a single human can do is less than other animals. However for long distances humans do better than any other animal.

The bullock might have been useful for hauling a short hard distance (out of the quarry for example). However if the quarry is a long ways away (this might or might not be true) humans are the best labor choice.