Scale armour was in common use among the armies of the Silk Road throughout the first millennium, both for men and for their mounts (see cat. no. 99). Some few examples leather scale survived for over a thousand years in the rubbish heap of Miran: presumably most armour would have been taken with the soldiers when they left. Contemporary records also mention metal armour. These are leather scales covered with lacquer to add strength, colour and design. Leather scales are known in China from at least the first millennium BC but these are important for being the earliest examples with carved lacquer.
Leather with lacquer
The British Museum,
MAS.611.b (M.I.ix.003)
MAS.621 (M.I.xxiv.0040)