In questo caso, si tratta di pantaloni in lana lavorata al telaio, ricavati da tre pezzi, senza tagli. Sono decorati e muniti di spacchi laterali e stringhe per essere allacciati.
I proprietari avevano all'incirca 40 anni ed erano pastori e guerrieri, come si deduce dal materiale che li accompagna: tra le molte altre cose, un bracciale da arciere, un'ascia da battaglia, un arco ed un contenitore per proteggerlo.
Prima di allora, l'uomo non portava i pantaloni, né in Europa, né in Asia: lo stesso Otzi portava una copertura fatta di tre pezzi distinti, che avevano l'aspetto di pantaloni senza esserlo davvero.
Insomma: fu allora che l'uomo iniziò a portare i pantaloni.
Ma non illudiamoci: probabilmente era anche allora la donna ad essere saldamente al comando...
Riders from the Eurasian Steppes invented trousers
3,200 years ago .
Two men whose remains were recently excavated from tombs in western China put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us.
But these nomadic herders did so between 3,300 and 3,000 years ago, making their trousers the oldest known examples of this innovative apparel, a new study finds.
Yanghai, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, around 1100 BC, front view of a wool pants from the grave M21 [Credit: (c) M. Wagner, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut]
With straight-fitting legs and a wide crotch, the ancient wool trousers resemble modern riding pants, says a team led by archaeologists Ulrike Beck and Mayke Wagner of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.
The discoveries, uncovered in the Yanghai graveyard in China’s Tarim Basin, support previous work suggesting that nomadic herders in Central Asia invented pants to provide bodily protection and freedom of movement for horseback journeys and mounted warfare, the scientists report May 22 in Quaternary International.
“This new paper definitely supports the idea that trousers were invented for horse riding by mobile pastoralists, and that trousers were brought to the Tarim Basin by horse-riding peoples,” remarks linguist and China authority Victor Mair of the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously, Europeans and Asians wore gowns, robes, tunics, togas or — as observed on the 5,300-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman — a three-piece combination of loincloth and individual leggings.
Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region Institute of Archaeology, documentation of a 1800-year-old silk dress from Niya [Credit: (c) Joy Zhou, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut]
A dry climate and hot summers helped preserve human corpses, clothing and other organic material in the Tarim Basin.
More than 500 tombs have been excavated in a graveyard there since the early 1970s. Earlier research on mummies from several Tarim Basin sites, led by Mair, identified a 2,600-year-old individual known as Cherchen Man who wore burgundy trousers probably made of wool.
Trousers of Scythian nomads from West Asia date to roughly 2,500 years ago. Mair suspects that horse riding began about 3,400 years ago and trouser-making came shortly thereafter in wetter regions to the north and west of the Tarim Basin.
Ancient trousers from those areas are not likely to have been preserved, Mair says.
Leather boots from Hami before and after restoration [Credit: (c) Joy Zhou, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut]
Horse riding’s origins are uncertain and could date to at least 4,000 years ago, comments archaeologist Margarita Gleba of University College London.
If so, she says, “I would not be surprised if trousers appeared at least that far back.”
The two trouser-wearing men entombed at Yanghai were roughly 40 years old and had probably been warriors as well as herders, the investigators say.
One man was buried with a decorated leather bridle, a wooden horse bit, a battle-ax and a leather bracer for arm protection.
Among objects placed with the other body were a whip, a decorated horse tail, a bow sheath and a bow.
Beck and Wagner’s group obtained radiocarbon ages of fibers from both men’s trousers, and of three other items in one of the tombs.
Each pair of trousers was sewn together from three pieces of brown-colored wool cloth, one piece for each leg and an insert for the crotch.
The tailoring involved no cutting: Pant sections were shaped on a loom in the final size. Finished pants included side slits, strings for fastening at the waist and woven designs on the legs.
Beck and Wagner’s team calls the ancient invention of trousers “a ground-breaking achievement in the history of cloth making.” That’s not too shabby for herders who probably thought the Gap was just a place to ride their horses through.
Author: Bruce Bower | Source: Science News [May 31, 2014]
