Arabian horses appear on 2,000-year-old cliff paintings in north China

HOHHOT, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and German archeologists have found images of what they believe to be Arabian horses on cliff paintings dating back 2,000 years in the Yinshan Mountains of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Wu Jiacai, director of the North China Institute of Cliff Paintings, said that images of Arabian horses have been found in a dozen cliff paintings, which also contain images of other animals and humans. Those in Yinshan are believed to be the earliest found to date.

The horses are depicted in the paintings wearing armor, leather saddles and stirrups.

The pictures were painted around 210 B.C., when the nomadic Huns were at war with the Donghu, a nomadic tribe from north China.

Over 10,000 ancient cliff paintings have been found in the Yinshan Mountains.

Experts said the pictures suggest that Huns had trade links with people in western Asia and northern Africa at that time.

Earlier archeological excavations in Erdos, Inner Mongolia, unearthed bronze and pottery figurines of Arabian horses.