Archaeologists in China have discovered the world's oldest pair of pants.

A team of German and Chinese researchers report finding a pair of wool pants from from a burial site in Turpan, Western China.

Believed to be about 3,200 years old, the pants were apparently made of three distinctive parts: two leg pieces and a stepped crotch part which were all woven separately on a loom, said a news release from the German Archeological Institute, with which the researchers were working at the time.

The pieces of fabric, the new piece continued, were sewn together with a large width in the crotch, so that a sideways spreading of the legs was possible.

The pants were accompanied in the grave where they were found beside a horse bridle and typical weapons carried by warriors in the steppes of Eurasia during the period when scientists believe equestrian fighters first made an appearance.

Comparative analysis showed the style of the ancient pair of pants conforms to modern-day outfits associated with horse-riding.

The research was conducted as part of a larger project, "Silk Road Fashion: Communication Through Clothing of the 1st millennium BC in Eastern Central Asia," a collaborative effort between several partner groups from Germany, the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage and the Heritage Office of Xinjiang to explore China's technology and body of knowledge, social structures, and the availability of resources and trade networks throughout the region from about 1200 BC to 300 AD.

According the researchers, clothing and equipment uncovered in area of Xinjian has long been the focus for archeological and paleontological studies, research into textiles and the analysis of dyes and other forms of ornamentation.

By the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., researchers have found, men and women in Asia and Europe seem to have mainly covered themselves with skirts, coats or dresses, leggings and loincloths.

But pants were born out of the need for speed, a necessary form of protection when mounting a horse.