The history of the earliest rigid-structure saddles in the light of archaeological data from the Southern Aral Sea area

The article deals with terracotta statuettes of saddled horses and fantastic beasts coming from ar- chaeological sites of Chorasmia and its cattle-breeding periphery. Among them, a group of figurines with saddles of the so-called horned type stands out, which are well attested in iconographic and material pieces of evidence of the Roman Imperial era from Western Europe. A great importance of the invention of the “horned” saddles for the development of the art of warfare in the Ancient world during Hellenistic and subsequent times is emphasized, and a question of their invention in the Southern Aral Sea area is raised as well.