"Oldest Leather Saddle Discovered in Chinese Tomb"

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old leather horse saddle in the tomb of a woman in northwestern China, which may be the oldest ever found. The saddle, made between 724 and 396 B.C., was discovered in the Turpan Basin of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and may predate saddles known from the Scythians. The saddle was made of two cowhide cushions filled with a mixture of straw and deer and camel hair. The discovery suggests women participated in the day-to-day activities of mounted pastoralists, which included herding and travelling, contradicting traditionalist historical narratives associating horse-riding with warfare by elite men.