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Estimating the Withers Height of Horses in the Joseon Dynasty through Zooarchaeological Analysis: A Case Study from the Susong-dong and Euljiro-Sewoon Districts in Seoul, Korea

  • Anatomy & Biological Anthropology
  • Abbr : Anat Biol Anthropol
  • 2026, 39(3), pp.225~239
  • DOI : 10.11637/aba.2026.39.3.225
  • Publisher : 대한체질인류학회
  • Research Area : Medicine and Pharmacy > Anatomy
  • Received : July 20, 2026
  • Accepted : September 9, 2026
  • Published : June 30, 2026

Kyungcheol Choy 1,  김진우 2

1한양대학교 문화인류학과
2국립가야문화유산연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Recently, horse remains have been recovered from archaeological sites within Hanyang-doseong (Seoul City Wall). However, few studies have been tried to investigate the withers height and body size of horses from the Joseon Dynasty. In this study, we examined the osteometric characteristics of 23 horse long bones excavated from the Susong-dong and Sewoon District sites within anicent Seoul wall and estimated their withers heights to evaluate the body size of Joseon horses. The greatest lengths of six long bones (humerus, radius, metacarpal, femur, tibia, matatarsal) were measured following the standard method of von den Driesch (1976), and withers heights were estimated using the formulae proposed by May (1985) and Hayashida I (1957). The estimated withers heights of horses from the Susong-dong ranged from 125 to 130 cm and those from the Sewoon District ranged from 118 to 122 cm. Based on the comparative classification of horse stature, the Joseon horses in this study were classified as small-sized medium horses. Comparison with previously published Japanese medevial data revealed no significant differences between the Joseon Korean horses and Edo-period Japanese horses. However, the estimated withers heights of the Joseon horses were slightly greater than those reported for the Jeju native pony. Although the number of measurable specimens was limited, this study provides basic data on the body size of Joseon horses and offers valuable information for understanding the morphological characteristics of Joseon horses on the Korean Peninsula.

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