A MORE COMFORTABLE RIDE

Although the date is much debated, most scholars believe people 5,000 years ago. For thousands of years after that, they did so without saddles. "In comparison with horse riding, the development of saddles began relatively late, when riders began to care more about comfort and safety in addition to the horse's health," says University of Zurich archaeologist Patrick Wertmann.

- JarreTT A. LOBELL

A team led by Wertmann has now dated what they believe to be the world's oldest known saddle. The horse tack was unearthed in the Yanghai cemetery in Turfan in northwest China, which is mainly associated with the Subeixi culture of the first millennium B.C. Arid conditions in the area preserve organic material that rarely survives for so long. The saddle