Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2022 - 33

scales, but they were probably most often made from leather. "
While innumerable sets of leather armor were doubtless
crafted and issued to soldiers in the Assyrian and later NeoAssyrian
armies, leather rarely survives in the archaeological
record. The most complete set of Assyrian-style leather scale
armor discovered prior to the Yanghai find dates to the fourteenth
century b.c. and was uncovered in the tomb of the
pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. 1336-1327 b.c.), evidence of cultural
exchange between ancient Assyria and Egypt.
B
Y the seventh centurY b.c., horses had been the
main form of transportation for societies across Asia
for nearly 2,000 years. Eurasian steppe
groups, such as the Scythians, covered great
distances on horseback, forming a continentspanning
network of horse-based cultures
that could carry people, goods, languages,
and ideas. Texts from this period describe
foreign mercenaries serving in the NeoAssyrian
army. It is possible that the Cheshi's
skill as horse riders was renowned as far
away as the Neo-Assyrian Empire. " We
can speculate that the man buried at
Yanghai was from Turfan and that he
may have served in the Neo-Assyrian
army, for which he was outfitted
with Neo-Assyrian equipment, " says
Wertmann. " When his service was up,
he might have brought the armor back
home with him. " It is also possible,
Wertmann suggests, that the man
captured the armor in battle, or
even that he was originally from
somewhere in Mesopotamia.
Wertmann and his team have compared
the Yanghai armor with a similar example
of leather armor in the collections of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. This set has no
archaeological context but has been radiocarbon
dated to the same period. Researchers have
determined that the two sets of armor are very
similar in style but diverge slightly in construction, suggesting
that they may have been made by the same artisans but designed
for different army units. The museum's armor has a stiffer, less
flexible torso and skirt design, which has led Wertmann and his
team to suggest that it may have been created for a more heavily
armored rider who would not have been expected to dismount
and fight on foot. The Yanghai armor, by contrast, may have
been designed for a light cavalry or mounted infantry soldier.
The Neo-Assyrian army, Wertmann says, was the only fighting
force in the world in the seventh century b.c. to boast these
specialized fighting roles and types of equipment.
Like Wertmann, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator
emeritus of arms and armor Donald La Rocca believes it's possible
that both sets of armor were made somewhere in the NeoAssyrian
Empire. " This kind of armor is of a type that could
archaeology.org
have been mass produced and adjusted to fit a range of body
shapes and sizes, which would have been necessary for the
Neo-Assyrian army, " he says. However, La Rocca says it's also
conceivable that one of the nomadic cultures of Eurasia, such
as the Scythians, may have adopted the technology from the
Neo-Assyrians and that either of the two sets of armor could
have been made by one of these groups. " All these peoples
were adept horse riders in fairly frequent military conflict who
would have needed this armor, too, " says La Rocca. " I don't
doubt that they would have been quick to adopt whatever
technology was most advantageous to them. "
T
ex
th
" W
D
in
o
b
th
th
t
m
he Yanghai armor is not the
only evidence discovered in the
cemetery that establishes the
existence of cultural connections between
the Turfan Basin and regions to the west.
" We have found many cowrie shells in
Yanghai cemetery graves, " says archaeologist
Dongliang Xu of Academia Turfanica, a research
institute devoted to the archaeology and history
of the Turfan region. " The shells must have
been traded or exchanged from as far away as
the Indian Ocean. " It was not only such goods
that were transported to Turfan, says Xu, but
technological innovations as well. " It was
most likely nomadic herders who carried
these inventions and this knowledge
across Eurasia, " Xu says. " The armor
is one revealing example, but so are
the many textiles we have excavated
at Yanghai, which show weaving
techniques and decorative patterns
from cultures across Siberia, Central Asia,
a
is
th
at
and the Middle East. "
a
This set of leather scale armor from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art dates to the
same period as the Yanghai cemetery
example and may also have been made
by Neo-Assyrians.
T
M
sa
ex
b
Whether the armor was crafted by Neo-Assyrian artisans or
by Scythians or members of another Eurasian steppe culture,
Wertmann remains impressed by its creators' ingenuity. Since
the region's arid climate preserves organic objects that in most
places would be lost, the Yanghai cemetery has revealed many
examples of ancient inventiveness, including the world's oldest
known trousers, which the Cheshi designed specifically
for riding horses some 3,000 years ago. " The plant remains
we find, the animal remains, the objects related to horses,
and even this set of armor, which is foreign and unique in the
Yanghai cemetery, are all connected, " says Wertmann. " They
will gradually paint us a picture of these people who left no
other records of themselves. " n
Marley Brown is associate editor at Archaeology.
33
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Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2022

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