3,300-year-old trousers found in China may be the world's oldest

Two pairs of 3,300-year-old trousers found in the western Xinjiang region may be the world’s oldest.

Archaeologists found the animal-fur menswear on the bodies of two mummies, identified as male shamans in their forties,in May. An international team is working to repair and preserve the two pairs of trousers – which are the oldest yet discovered with a clear resemblance to the modern trousers.



“They were almost of the same shape as today’s trousers,” Lu Enguo, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology in Xinjiang, said. Even older apparel resembling trousers have previously been discovered in the region, but they were made based on a more simple design and lacked a piece of fabric covering the crotch, Lu added.

Archaeologists believe nomads living in the area invented trousers for horse riding. The nomads “at first wore a kind of trousers that only had two legs,” said the institute’s deputy head Xu Dongliang. He added that “crotches were sewed on to the legs, and gradually other styles, such as bloomers, appeared”. Previously, the oldest trousers found with a crotch were just 2,800 years old.