Central Asian horse riders played ball games 3,000 years ago

Date:
October 12, 2020
Source:
University of Zurich
Summary:
Researchers have investigated ancient leather balls discovered
in the graves of horse riders in northwest China. According to
the international research team, they are around 3,000 years old,
making them the oldest balls in Eurasia. The find suggests amongst
others that the mounted warriors of Central Asia played ball games
to keep themselves fit.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers have investigated ancient leather balls discovered in the
graves of horse riders in northwest China. According to the international research team, they are around 3,000 years old, making them the oldest
balls in Eurasia. The find suggests amongst others that the mounted
warriors of Central Asia played ball games to keep themselves fit.


========================================================================== Today, ball games are one of the most popular leisure activities in the
world, an important form of mass entertainment and big business. But
who invented balls, where and when? The oldest balls that are currently
known about were made in Egypt about 4,500 years ago using linen. Central Americans have been playing ball games for at least 3,700 years, as
evidenced through monumental ball courts made of stone and depictions
of ball players. Their oldest balls were made of rubber. Until now,
it was believed that ball games in Europe and Asia followed much later:
In Greece about 2,500 years ago and in China about 300 years after that.

Eurasia's oldest known balls Researchers from the University of Zurich, together with German and Chinese researchers, have now examined in more
detail three leather balls found in graves in the old Yanghai cemetery
near the city of Turfan in northwest China.

The balls, measuring between 7.4 and 9.2cm in diameter, have been
dated at around 2,900 to 3,200 years old. "This makes these balls
about five centuries older than the previously known ancient balls and depictions of ball games in Eurasia," says first author Patrick Wertmann
of the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies of the University of
Zurich. "Unfortunately, however, the associated archaeological information
is not sufficient to answer the question of exactly how these balls
were played." The earliest illustrations from Greece show ball players running, and depictions from China show riders using sticks. Comparable
curved sticks were also found in Yanghai, but there was no apparent direct connection with the balls. Moreover, they are dated to a more recent
period. "Therefore, the leather balls from Yanghai are not connected to
early forms of field hockey or polo, even though two of the balls were
found in the graves of horsemen," says Wertmann.

New era of Central Asian equestrian warfare In one of the riders' graves,
the preserved remains of a composite bow and a pair of trousers (1)
were found, which were made in the region at that time and are among
the oldest in the world. Both are signs of a new era of horse riding, equestrian warfare and fundamental societal transformations which
accompanied increasing environmental changes and a rising mobility in
eastern Central Asia.

The current study shows that balls and ball games were part of physical exercise and military training from the very beginning. In addition,
just like today, sport also played a central role in society and was a widespread leisure activity. The study's findings once again highlight
that this region was a center of innovation within Eurasia several
millennia ago.

(1) The invention of trousers and its likely affiliation with horseback
riding and mobility: A case study of late 2nd millennium BC finds from
Turfan in eastern Central Asia

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Zurich. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Patrick Wertmann, Xinyong Chen, Xiao Li, Dongliang Xu, Pavel
E. Tarasov,
Mayke Wagner. New evidence for ball games in Eurasia from
ca. 3000-year- old Yanghai tombs in the Turfan depression of
Northwest China. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020;
102576 DOI: 10.1016/ j.jasrep.2020.102576 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201012103140.htm

--- up 7 weeks, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)