The Silk Road: A New History

The Silk Road is a history that has captivated imagination for centuries. Yet, what was it, exactly? Valerie Hansen's new book reveals the remarkable archaeological finds that have revolutionized our understanding of these trade routes. For millennia, key records remained hidden - often deliberately buried by bureaucrats for safe keeping. The sands of the Taklamakan Desert have revealed fascinating material, sometimes preserved by illiterate locals who recycled official documents to make insoles for shoes or garments for the dead. Hansen explores seven oases along the road, from northwest China to Samarkand, where merchants, envoys, pilgrims, and travelers mixed in cosmopolitan communities. The Silk Road was not a single, continuous road, but a chain of markets that traded between east and west. The importance of silk is often overstated - paper, invented in China before Julius Caesar was born, had a bigger impact in Europe, while metals, spices, and glass were just as important. What's most significant, however, is the road's transmission of ideas, technologies, and artistic motifs across Central Asia and Southeast Asia.