The invention of the horse saddle was an important prerequisite for endurance riding and mounted warfare. Archaeologists have now discovered the oldest securely dated horse saddle near the city of Turfan in the Chinese region of Xinjiang - it is between 2400 and 2700 years old. Unlike simple blankets strapped to the horse's back, this saddle was made of several layers of leather and padded on the sides. He found himself in a woman's tomb of the nomadic Subeixi culture.
The domestication of the horse and its use as a means of transport and riding was a decisive step in the cultural development of the steppe dwellers in 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 dead people suggest that the Yamnaya and other steppe cultures were regularly on horseback 4,500 to 5,000 years ago - but at that time still without a saddle. Early depictions of horsemen in Mesopotamia and Egypt also mostly show them without a saddle or only with a blanket strapped to the horse's back.
Modern horse saddles, on the other hand, are specially padded and shaped in such a way that they give horse and rider the greatest possible comfort. They made riding easier on both parties and also gave riders better support in fights on horseback. However, it is still unclear when the first saddles made of leather and specially adapted to the horse's back appeared, because leather rarely survives for thousands of years. Finds from graves of the Scythian Pazyryk culture, in the Altai and eastern Kazakhstan, which date from the late 4th to the middle of the 3rd century BC, are considered to be the oldest evidence of real saddles.
Lateral pads and central recess
Patrick Wertmann from the University of Zurich and his colleagues are now reporting on two saddle finds that are even older than the 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 graves, researchers found the remains of a woman who had been buried in a leather coat, wool pants, and short leather boots. "A leather horse saddle was placed under her buttocks as if she were sitting on it," the team reports.
Analyzes revealed that this horse saddle dates from between 700 and 400 BC and already had some of the characteristics of a modern saddle: It consists of two thick layers of cowhide that have been shaped and sewn together to create two chambers. Located on either side of the center of the saddle, these chambers were lined with a mixture of camel and deer hair and straw. The middle, on the other hand, remained unpadded and formed a continuous depression from back to front. "When the saddle is placed on the horse's back, this recess lies directly on the horse's spine," explain Wertmann and his colleagues. The pads combined with this free channel relieved the pressure on the animal's spine when riding.
A saddle of the elite, one from everyday life
Archaeologists discovered another horse saddle at the Subeixi site, also in Xinjiang's Turfan Basin. It lay with a bridle and a riding crop in the tomb of a man dressed similarly to the Yanghai woman. He also belonged to the Subeixi 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 intermediate seams. A skin was placed on the underside of the leather saddle, which served as a saddle pad. Overall, the Subeixi saddle was somewhat larger and more artistically crafted. Wertmann and his colleagues assume that this horse saddle belonged to a member of the elite, while the Yanghai saddle represented more of an everyday saddle of this culture.
"Given their practical and well-considered design and the fine craftsmanship, especially in the leather and needlework, both saddles were made by skilled craftsmen experienced in leatherwork, horse husbandry and riding," the archaeologists state. The age of the Yanghai saddle in particular suggests that these finds are older than the earliest known Scythian horse saddles. Signs of wear on both saddles and patched areas suggest that these saddles were used for a long time and intensively.
Source: Archaeological Research in Asia, doi: 10.1016/j.ara.2023.100451