01-16-2018, 06:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2018, 07:07 PM by Eleatic Guest.)
(01-16-2018, 05:24 PM)Alanus Wrote: Just a note.
The stirrup-shaped bridle bits I mentioned were used for horse riding, not for chariots. This bit style has been found in Northern China, in Xinjiang, in Tuva, also in Kazakhstan, and has been dated to 900 to 650 BC.
These areas where they were found were by a long way beyond proper China at the time ("Xinjiang" btw means "New territories"). The cultures they belonged to were non-Chinese.
(01-16-2018, 05:24 PM)Alanus Wrote: In the final analysis, heavy cavalry has an Eastern origin, that is to say-- east of the Oxus
The question is how many sparrows make a summer? Let me play the devil's advocate: Can we infer from a few finds of armour pieces to the existence of a proper heavy cavalry? Perhaps these armoured riders were all individual aristocrats, untypical of their armies.
Cavalry is a military unit and thus the existence of the mass use of armoured riders needs to be demonstrated. However, with the possible exception of Assyrian reliefs I don't see any eastern literary or pictorial evidence which points to it.
(01-16-2018, 04:12 PM)Michael Kerr Wrote: The image on the left is a fragment of a vessel showing the lower half of an armored horse and a rider with a spear from Khumbuz-tepe in Chorasmia, Uzbekistan.egards
Michael Kerr
What type of horse armour could that be? Maybe organic stuff?
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
