Suchergebnisse

Three leather balls discovered in tombs IM157, IM209, and IM214 of the prehistoric Yanghai cemetery (42 degrees 48'N, 89 degrees 39'E) located about 43 km southeast of the modern city of Turfan, were AMS radiocarbon dated to the time interval between 1189 and 911 BCE (95% probability), and thus predate other currently known antique balls and images of ball games in Eurasia by several centuries. Our study approves the antiquity of the Yanghai balls, but the available data is not enough to answer the question how these balls were played. Although, their use in team and goal sport is likely, a suggested game similar to hockey, golf or polo cannot be confirmed, because no appropriate sticks were found in direct association with the balls. The affiliation of curved wooden sticks in Yanghai with ball games suggested earlier remains hypothetical, as all found sticks are noticeably younger in age, and other forms of use should be verified by future studies. Two of the three balls were found in the burials of the possible horse riders. Given that ball games from ancient times were considered an excellent form of physical exercise and military training, we suggest that balls (and ball games) appeared in the region at the same time as horseback riding and mounted warfare began to spread in the eastern part of Central Asia.

The first millennium BCE was pivotal for the environment and for human societies in Central and Eastern Eurasia because transformations accelerated and altered natural and cultural landscapes to hitherto unknown dimensions. Among the major driving forces was the increasing use of horse riding, which extended range of movement significantly and led to the development of cavalry units as a part of large armies. Empires with enormous outreach and gravitational pull formed and disintegrated in close dependence. The wide spread of military technologies demonstrates their bonds, though mostly in the form of metal objects due to the inherent survivability of their materials. Equipment and protective clothing of organic material, albeit produced in large numbers and thus an economic and environmental factor, are rarely preserved. In Yanghai cemetery site, Turfan, the remains of one leather scale armour were discovered. In this study, the results of the AMS radiocarbon dating as well as the construction details of the Yanghai find are presented and compared with a contemporary armour of unknown origin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (MET) and with finds and depictions from the Near East, the adjacent northern steppe areas and the territory of China. The armour, datable to 786–543 cal BCE (95% probability), was originally made of about 5444 smaller scales and 140 larger scales, which, together with leather laces and lining, had a total weight of ca. 4–5 kg. Our reconstruction demonstrates that it can be donned quickly and without the help of another person by wrapping the left part around the back, tying it to the right part under the right arm and fastening with thongs crosswise over the back to laces at the opposite hip parts. Fitting different statures, it is a light and highly efficient defensive garment. In age, construction details and aesthetic appearance it resembles the MET armour. The stylistic similarities but constructional differences suggest that the two armours were intended as outfits for ...