It's been a while since I have added anything to our sarcastic collection, so I figured a little update was needed. This time we have two sets of immortal Chinese pants:
The oldest known trousers in the world have been found in two tombs of the Subeixi culture in northwestern China in 2014. The cemetery is in a gravel desert, an arid climate that can get as hot as 122°F in the summer and as cold as -20°F in the winter, which ensures the preservation of organic material like human and animal remains, plants and textiles.
See how creative our archaeologists are:
She is a Scientific Director of the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute and head of its Beijing Branch Office. She is specialist of Chinese and East Asian archaeology and PI of the several large projects. The most recent ones are “Silk Road Fashion: Vestimentary knowledge in central and eastern Asia from 2nd Millennium BC to 1st Millennium AD” focusing on technique oriented in-depth studies of garments preserved in arid eastern central Asia and their archaeological and environmental context; and “Bridging Eurasia: Settlement history and climate change in Northeast Asia since the last Ice Age” focusing on human environment interactions on Hokkaido, in the Russian Far East and Northeast China. Her research interests also include the revision of prehistoric chronologies, statistical analyses of archaeological mass data, and the evolution and transmission of knowledge in Eurasia.
Sources:
KD: Who here thinks that this fabric could have survived for 3,000 years while laying in the gravel, in the area where rain is very rare and temperatures vary from 122°F in the summer to -20°F in the winter?
- Set #1: 1122-926 B.C.
- Set #2: 1261–1041 B.C.
See how creative our archaeologists are:
- Radiocarbon dating of two pairs of trousers discovered in a cemetery in western China has revealed they were made between the thirteenth and tenth centuries B.C., making them the oldest known surviving pants by almost 1,000 years German Archaeological Institute scholar Mayke Wagner, who led the study, says the dates amazed his team. “In most places on Earth, 3,000-year-old garments are destroyed by microorganisms and chemicals in the soil,” he says. The two people who were buried wearing pants were likely prestigious warriors who functioned like policemen and wore trousers while riding on horseback. “The trousers were part of their uniform and the fact that they were made between 100 and 200 years apart means it was a standard, traditional design,” says Wagner, whose team worked with a fashion designer to re-create the garments. “They are surprisingly good-looking, but they are not particularly comfortable for walking.”
- wearers were likely (right?) prestigious warriors
- KD: in my opinion, after this "likely" everything has to stop, and "we do not know" has to follow
- functioned like policemen
- wore trousers while riding on horse back (apparently we can rule out a car, a motorbike, an airplane, etc)
- trousers were part of the uniform
- the fashion was stable for 100-200 years (carbon dating had to have something to do with that)
She is a Scientific Director of the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute and head of its Beijing Branch Office. She is specialist of Chinese and East Asian archaeology and PI of the several large projects. The most recent ones are “Silk Road Fashion: Vestimentary knowledge in central and eastern Asia from 2nd Millennium BC to 1st Millennium AD” focusing on technique oriented in-depth studies of garments preserved in arid eastern central Asia and their archaeological and environmental context; and “Bridging Eurasia: Settlement history and climate change in Northeast Asia since the last Ice Age” focusing on human environment interactions on Hokkaido, in the Russian Far East and Northeast China. Her research interests also include the revision of prehistoric chronologies, statistical analyses of archaeological mass data, and the evolution and transmission of knowledge in Eurasia.
Sources:
KD: Who here thinks that this fabric could have survived for 3,000 years while laying in the gravel, in the area where rain is very rare and temperatures vary from 122°F in the summer to -20°F in the winter?