Also on the typology of bow-shaped objects and relevant issues

Abstract

AbstractThe bow-shaped object emerged in the Shang-Zhou Period of China and was used as rein holder for charioteers and riders to free their hands. It can be classified into two types: the narrow-backed and the wide-backed. Samples of the narrow-backed type were found at the waist of human skeletons or depicted on Mongolian deer stones, at the waist of human images in association with bow and bow case figures. It suggests that this type of bow-shaped object was tied to or hung on waist belts. On the other hand, wide-backed ones were usually brought to light from chariot boxes in chariot-and-horse burial pits and, in Mongolia and Central Asia, were seen in chariot images of deer stones, with the reins shown tied to or hung on chariot boxes. Judged from these discoveries, at least a part of wide-backed bow-shaped objects were used as rein holders tied to the front edge of chariot boxes.