Chinese trousers may be world’s oldest: report

Archeologists in May found animal-fur menswear on the bodies of two mummies, identified as male shamans in their 40s, the state-run China Daily cited scientists as saying.

An international team is working together to repair and preserve the two pairs — which are the oldest yet discovered with a clear resemblance to modern trousers, the report said.

« They were almost of the same shape as today’s trousers, » the report quoted Lu Enguo, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology in Xinjiang, as saying.

Even older apparel resembling trousers have previously been discovered in the region, but they were made according to 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 Xu Dongliang, deputy head of the institute, adding that « crotches were sewed on to the legs, and gradually other styles, such as bloomers, appeared ».

Previously, the oldest pants found with a crotch were just 2,800 years old, the report said.