The oldest known wool trousers

The oldest known wool trousers that have survived to date, are dated to about 3,300 years ago.

They were discovered in a cemetery, in the Agricultural Basin in China in 2014.

The wool trousers, belonged to a man buried between 1000 and 1200 BCE in Western China.

To make them, ancient weavers combined four different techniques, to create a garment specially engineered for fighting on horseback.

Mounted herders and warriors, needed their leg coverings to be flexible enough, to let the wearer swing a leg across a horse, without ripping the fabric or feeling constricted.

At the same time, they needed some added reinforcement, at crucial areas, like the crotch area and knees.

With flexibility in some places, and sturdiness in others, the pants were designed to incorporate the above requirements.

The pants, were part of the burial outfit of a warrior, now called Turfan Man.

He wore the woven wool pants with a poncho, that belted around the waist, ankle-high boots, and a wool headband, adorned with seashells and bronze discs.

Based on the other objects found in his grave, including a battle axe, a bridle, and a horse bit, Turfan Man probably spent a significant part of his time fighting on horseback.

Stretchy twill fabric, would have saved him the embarrassment of ripping his pants every time he swung into the saddle.

For added roominess, the ancient weaver made the crotch piece of the pants, wider at the center than the ends, so the piece of fabric could bunch up or stretch in the middle, to give the wearer more flexibility where it really counted.

At the knees, the ancient weaver switched to a different weaving method, called tapestry weaving, which produces a less flexible but thicker, sturdier fabric.

At the waist, a third weaving method provided a thick waistband to help hold the pants in place, no doubt preventing extremely embarrassing battlefield incidents.

And all of those components, were woven as a single piece, there's no evidence of any of the fabric having been cut.

The pants are an extremely functional design, but they’re also pretty darn fancy too.

As the weaver was working on that stretchy, roomy crotch piece, they alternated different colors of weft threads, to create pairs of brown stripes on an off-white background.

Zigzag stripes adorn the ankles and calves of the pants, along with a design similar to a step pyramid.

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https://arstechnica.com/.../the-worlds-oldest-pants-are.../

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