Evidence of mounted horseback riding in ancient China

A study uncovers early evidence of equestrianism in ancient China. Mounted horseback riding in ancient China supported trade along the Silk Road and boosted the country’s military prowess, among other societal impacts. However, sparse archaeological data and fragmentary historical records have hampered understanding of the precise time of emergence of equestrianism in China. Jian Ma and colleagues analyzed an assemblage of eight horse skeletons dating from around 350 BCE, before the establishment of Silk Road trade across the region, from a pair of adjacent sites in Xinjiang in northwestern China. The sites, Shirenzigou and Xigou, lie to the east of the Tianshan corridor, indicating their significance to transcontinental trade. Excavated from burial chambers and sacrificial pits, the horse bones exhibited signs of extensive human use. Osteological analysis revealed multiple abnormalities, including excessive enlargement or growth of parts of the vertebrae, pathological fusion of components, and horizontal fractures, with most abnormalities occurring on the vertebrae of the lower back and suggesting chronic use of pad saddles for riding. The authors also found deep lateral grooves on the bones that indicate bridling, ossification reminiscent of ridden horses, and dental anomalies tied to metal bit use. A fragment of a jointed metal snaffle, a type of iron bit, unearthed from one of the chambers further attested to the horses’ use in riding, along with signs of enamel and dentine exposure and chipping on the horses’ premolar teeth. Riding-associated skeletal defects in at least one human buried with the horses bolstered the findings. Additionally, 15 bone arrowheads found under the right hand of a horseman buried at Shirenzigou suggested evidence of mounted archery. Together, the findings provide early evidence of mounted horseback riding in ancient China and suggest that the region may have played a crucial role in the spread of equestrianism to the heartlands of China’s early settled civilizations, according to the authors.

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Article #20-04360: “Early evidence for mounted horseback riding in northwest China,” by Yue Li, Chengrui Zhang, William Timothy Treal Taylor et al.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Jian Ma, Northwest University, Shaanxi, CHINA; e-mail:

[email protected]

; Yue Li, Northwest University, Shaanxi, CHINA; e-mail:

[email protected]

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