Early evidence for mounted horseback riding in northwest China

Early evidence for mounted horseback riding in northwest China
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Nov 2;202004360.

Authors
Yue Li 1 2 , Chengrui Zhang 3 , William Timothy Treal Taylor 4 5 , Liang Chen 1 2 , Rowan K Flad 3 , Nicole Boivin 5 , Huan Liu 6 , Yue You 7 , Jianxin Wang 1 2 , Meng Ren 1 2 , Tongyuan Xi 1 2 , Yifu Han 1 2 , Rui Wen 1 2 , Jian Ma 8 2

Affiliations
1 School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, 710069 Xi’an, China.
2 Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Cultural Heritage Studies and Conservation, Northwest University, 710069 Xi’an, China.
3 Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
4 Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.
5 Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany.
6 School of Resource, Environment, and Historical Culture, Xianyang Normal University, 712000 Xianyang, China.
7 School of History, Capital Normal University, 100048 Beijing, China.
8 School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, 710069 Xi’an, China;

Abstract

Horseback riding was a transformative force in the ancient world, prompting radical shifts in human mobility, warfare, trade, and interaction. In China, domestic horses laid the foundation for trade, communication, and state infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road, while also stimulating key military, social, and political changes in Chinese society. Nonetheless, the emergence and adoption of mounted horseback riding in China is still poorly understood, particularly due to a lack of direct archaeological data. Here we present a detailed osteological study of eight horse skeletons dated to ca. 350 BCE from the sites of Shirenzigou and Xigou in Xinjiang, northwest China, prior to the formalization of Silk Road trade across this key region. Our analyses reveal characteristic osteological changes associated with equestrian practices on all specimens. Alongside other relevant archaeological evidence, these data provide direct evidence for mounted horseback riding, horse equipment, and mounted archery in northwest China by the late first millennium BCE. Most importantly, our results suggest that this region may have played a crucial role in the spread of equestrian technologies from the Eurasian interior to the settled civilizations of early China, where horses facilitated the rise of the first united Chinese empires and the emergence of transcontinental trade networks.