2,700-year-old horse saddle found in Chinese tomb

An intricately manufactured leather horse saddle, thought to be the oldest ever discovered, was uncovered by archaeologists in northwest China. The saddle was discovered in a woman’s tomb in a Yanghai cemetery in the Turpan Basin of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The saddle has been miraculously kept in the dry desert for up to 2,700 years. 

The woman was clad in a hide coat, woolen trousers, and short leather boots, according to a study in the journal Archaeological Research in Asia on May 23. The saddle was also put on her buttocks as if she was sitting on it.