The Silk Road (or Silk Route) refers to the network of trade routes crossing Asia, first reported to have been used during the Han Dynasty [206 BC-220 AD] in China. Over 4500 kilometers (2800 miles) of roadway are known, in three major trails between Chang'an in China and Rome in Italy.
Using a series of way stations and oases, the Silk Road spanned the 1900 kilometers (1200 miles) of the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the mountainous Pamirs (the 'Roof of the World') of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Important stops on the Silk Road included Kashgar, Turfan, Yarkand, Dunhuang, and the Merv Oasis.
Although called the Silk Road, a wide variety of material goods were carried along its tracks, including silk, precious gems and metals like jade and gold, horses, apricots, melons, raisins, ceramic lustreware, and lacquerware. More importantly, the Silk Road also carried people, and so its use spread technological advances such as medical science from India and religions such as Buddhism and Islam. It was probably also along the Silk Route where industrial espionageâ€"the secret of silk manufactureâ€"was passed.
Sites: Merv Oasis, Chang'an, Palmyra
Trade Goods: Lustreware, Wootz steel, silk, horses
Sources
Dani, Ahmad H. 2002 Significance of Silk Road to human civilization: Its cultural dimension. Journal of Asian Civilizations 25(1):72-79.
Liu, Z., et al. in press. Influence of Taoism on the invention of the purple pigment used on the Qin terracotta warriors. Journal of Archaeological Science.
Powell, William F. 1996. Silk Route. Pp. 646-648 in Brian Fagan (ed). 1996. The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
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