China: Oldest horse saddle discovered – wissenschaft.de

The invention of the horse saddle was an important prerequisite for endurance riding and warfare on horses. Archaeologists have now discovered the oldest securely dated horse saddle near the city of Turfan in China’s Xinjiang region – it’s between 2,400 and 2,700 years old. Unlike simple blankets strapped to a horse’s back, this saddle is made of several layers of leather and is padded on both sides. He found himself in the tomb of a woman from the nomadic Subeixi culture.

The domestication of the horse and its use as a means of transportation and riding was a crucial step in the cultural development of the steppe people of Central Asia in particular. Because on horseback they could cover long distances much faster than before. Archaeological finds and anatomical changes in the bones of the dead indicate that the Yamnaya and other steppe cultures were on horseback from 4,500 to 5,000 years ago – however, at that time, they were still bareback. Early depictions of horsemen in Mesopotamia and Egypt also appear mostly bareback or only with a blanket tied to the horse’s back.

On the other hand, modern horse saddles are specially padded and shaped in such a way as to give the horse and rider the greatest possible comfort. They made riding easier for both parties and also gave riders better support in battles on horseback. However, it remains unclear when the first saddles made of leather that were specially adapted to the horse’s back appeared, because leather rarely survives thousands of years. Finds from the graves of the Scythian bazyryk culture, in Altai and eastern Kazakhstan, dating from the late fourth to mid-third centuries BC, are the earliest evidence of true saddles.

Side pads and center vent

Patrick Wertmann of the University of Zurich and colleagues now report two finds of saddles that are older than Scythian specimens. One of these horse saddles was discovered in Yanghai, about 43 kilometers southeast of the city of Turfan, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. A few years ago, archaeologists discovered several tombs of the nomadic Subeixi culture, which was widespread in the first millennium BC. In one of these tombs, researchers found the remains of a woman who was buried in a leather coat, woolen trousers and short leather shoes. “The horses had a leather saddle placed under their buttocks as if they were sitting on it,” the team says.

Analyzes revealed that this horse saddle dated to between 700 and 400 BC and indeed had some of the characteristics of a modern saddle: It consisted of two thick layers of cowhide that were molded and sewn together to create two chambers. These chambers, located on either side of the center of the saddle, were lined with a mixture of camel and deer hair and straw. On the other hand, the middle remained unlined and formed a continuous depression from back to front. “When the saddle is placed on the horse’s back, this recess is located directly on the horse’s spine,” Wertmann and colleagues explain. The pads along with this free channel relieve pressure on the animal’s spine when riding.

An elite saddle, an everyday one

Archaeologists have discovered another horse saddle at the Subeixi site, also in the Turfan Basin in Xinjiang. A bridle and a stirrup crop were lying in the tomb of a man dressed as a Yanghai woman. He also belonged to the Subexi culture and was probably buried between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. His leather saddle also had two padded chambers, the contents of which were held in place with middle seams. A leather was placed on the underside of the leather saddle, which served as a saddle pad. In general, Subeixi’s saddle was somewhat larger and more artistically designed. Wertman and colleagues hypothesize that this horse saddle belonged to an elite member, while the Yanghai saddle represented more of an everyday saddle for this culture.

“Because of their practical and well-thought-out design and meticulous craftsmanship, especially in leather and stitching, both saddles were made by skilled craftsmen experienced in leatherwork, horse breeding, and riding,” say the archaeologists. The age of the Yanghai saddle in particular indicates that these finds are older than the oldest known Scythian horse saddles. Signs of wear on both the saddles and the patchwork areas indicate that these saddles were used for a long time and extensively.

Source: Archaeological Research in Asia, Available here. doi: 10.1016/j.ara.2023.100451

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