Studies In Silk Road Archaeology

This book is a collection of Nai Xia’s quintessential works on Silk Road studies. A key resource in the field of Silk Road Archaeology, it features in-depth content, a broad range of material, careful textual research, and meticulous analysis. With thorough investigations of foreign coinage, silk textiles, and artifacts with foreign styles excavated in different parts of China, it explores the exchange between ancient China and Central Asia, Western Asia, and Europe. In particular, this book provides detailed descriptions of the economic and cultural ties between ancient China, Pre-Islamic Arabia, the Sasanian Empire, and the Byzantine Empire. The research propounds innovative theories on the history and evolution of East-West transportation routes, i.e., the overland Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road. Based on the study of ancient relics and excavated artifacts, it points out that cultural exchange along the Silk Road was never unilateral, but instead, mutual influence and cooperation were obvious. Since ancient times, countries along the Silk Road have had a tradition of amicable foreign relations and the promotion of common interests. The book is intended for academics, scholars and researchers.

The book explores largely overlooked areas of Silk Road studies by searching for multidisciplinary evidence on the connotations of Silk Road culture and by rewriting social complexities along the Silk Road in different historical periods. It investigates the impacts of conflicts and communication between Silk Road civilizations, presents the latest archaeological discoveries and research findings in the field of Silk Road studies, and develops a new Silk Road archaeological system. By doing so, it defines a new direction for Silk Road archaeological studies.

Supported by Eurasia Pacific Uninet, the second international conference on "Archaeology and Conservation along the Silk Road" was jointly organized by Nanjing University China and Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts Vienna and held in May 2016 in China. Silk Road showcases the trans-continental cultural movements between Europe and Asia and this event encouraged researchers to reflect on popular as well as otherwise under-represented topics. This volume includes selected papers from the conference and merges aspects of archaeology with conservation. Subjects vary from field drawings, unique local techniques, spread of diseases and epidemics to DNA studies assessing population migration and mixture. Next Silk Road conference is planned for 2018 to carry forward the initiative of learning and exchange of knowledge.

This book presents outstanding articles addressing various aspects related to the ancient Silk Road, in particular the cultural, political, and economic interactions that took place among the civilizations and cultures on the Eurasian continent. In addition, the articles help to reveal the hallmark features of cultural communication in Inner Asia in different historical periods. The book develops a new approach to studying the civilizations of the Silk Road, promotes interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional research, sets a new direction for Chinese ancient classics and western sinology, and presents the latest discoveries, including both archaeological finds and historical documents.

This volume includes outstanding scientific articles on documents written in ancient languages such as Tocharian, Sogdian, Khotanese, and Old Uyghur. Its chief aims are to contribute to the present state of research by adding essential findings on newly discovered historical documents; to present a multi-dimensional investigation of diverse aspects including the history, religion, art, literature, and social life along the Silk Road; and to outline potential future research directions for non-Han literature studies and inspire research into other aspects, such as economics and comparative studies.

Fifteen Lectures on the Archaeology along the Silk Road is a representative work by Lin Meicun, a Peking University professor who enjoys worldwide fame on Silk Road archaeological research. This book gives a systematic account of the history of economic and cultural communications between China and the West via the silk roads from the Bronze Age (2100B.C.-500B.C.) to Zheng He’s voyages (1405-1433A.D.) to the western oceans, covering the Yangtze and Yellow rivers in China, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Europe. This book shows the Silk Road as a road network not only for China’s Western trade of Chinese goods, such as silk, porcelains, jade and tea and its long-term imports of dragonfly eye glass beads, smalt, ambergris, incense, and other luxuries of Western origin, but also for the spread of Chinese culture to the West and Greek art and Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism and Manichaeism to the East. It not only includes the knowledge accumulated in relevant fields for a long time, but also incorporates the latest archaeological discoveries and research achievements. The author reaches many talented conclusions that are inspiring for the settlement of some disputes in the related field and illustrates his set of ideas with some 300 figures and pictures, among which many are first publicized.