8,500-year-old Evidence of Silk Production Weaves a New History of the Luxurious Fabric

Ancient Origins

Researchers have isolated degraded silk proteins in the soil of Chinese tombs that date back about 8,500 years—the oldest evidence of manmade silk by far. They found the tiny molecular proteins at the Jiahu archaeological site, which is rich with artifacts that point to some of the first signs of civilization.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal PLOS one, say they found rough weaving tools and bone needles in the 8,500-year-old tombs, all of which indicate the people who lived at Jiahu may have had basic weaving and sewing skills.

The three tombs from which researchers took soil to find silk proteins. ( Yuxuan Gong et al .)

“This finding may advance the study of the history of silk, and the civilization of the Neolithic Age,” wrote the authors. “The invention of silk was significant not only to ancient China; but to all of Eurasia.”

The Jiahu archaeological site was home to people from about 9000 to 7000 BC. It was named after a nearby modern village.

Silk was such a desirable product that a great trade route across Eurasia in ancient times was called the Silk Road. It comprised several routes from east in China as far west as ancient Greece and Rome. Silk, of course, was not the only product carried over the Silk Road.

This map shows the land route of the Silk Road in red and sea routes in blue. ( Public Domain )

The authors wrote that the first known clothing, dating back 70,000 years, was from animal skins. Then, about 30,000 years ago people were using flax fibers to make textiles. Scholars thought silk was made much more recently, about 5,000 years back.

Until now, that is.

The scientists, led by Yuxuan Gong of the University of Science and Technology of China, came up with a system of identifying evidence of degraded silk from about 3,000 years ago in the soil. They devised a way to distinguish modern silk fibers from archaeological silk remnants. This latest article in the December 12 issue of PLOS One reports on their newest research using mass spectrometry to identify biomolecular evidence of silk protein in the soils of three tombs that date back to the New Stone Age, 8,500 years ago.

The weaving tools and bone needles found in the tombs, indicate the silk from 8,500 years ago was sewn or woven into clothing. Legends say the area of Jiahu was where silk production first began.

13th century depiction of people weaving silk by Liang Kai. ( Public Domain )

Jiahu, which is in Henan Province, is a site rich with evidence of civilization, as the authors report:

“The site is famous for the discovery of the earliest playable musical instrument (bone flutes), the earliest mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit, the earliest domesticated rice in northern China, and possibly the earliest Chinese pictographic writing. The excavated biological remains, including pollen, phytoliths and soil micromorphology, indicate that Jiahu’s warm and humid climate not only favoured the growth of mulberry trees, which feed the silkworm, but also enabled Jiahu inhabitants to settle and develop agriculture .”

A Neolithic bone flute that was discovered in Jiahu, China. ( CC BY SA 2.0 )

There is an article on Natural History Magazine online by researchers who excavated the site of Jiahu in the 1980s about the artifacts, health, diet and music of the village’s ancient residents. The article also deals with Penn State archaeologist Patrick McGovern’s efforts to recreate ancient alcoholic beverages at Jiahu, which researchers found in abundance on pottery at the site.

Jiahu pottery. (the.black.sheep)

Dr. McGovern reasoned that many of the jars and vases at Jiahu were used to ferment and store beer or wine. He speculated they made alcoholic beverages not just for intoxication but also because alcohol kills germs. They placed beer or wine along with other gifts, including flutes made from bones, into the tombs of many of the dead.

 Jiahu villagers also grew short-grain japonica rice and hunted, fished, and gathered to supply a varied diet. Evidence shows they took “carp, crane, deer, hare, turtle, and other animals. They also collected a broad variety of wild herbs, wild vegetables such as acorns, water chestnuts, and broad beans, and possibly wild rice. And they possessed domesticated dogs and pigs.”

Bone arrowheads were found at Jiahu, but the people there were not just hunters, they were also among the earliest farmers in that part of the world. (CC BY SA 3.0)

Regarding the current find, the PLOS One abstract says: “This finding may advance the study of the history of silk, and the civilization of the Neolithic Age.” The authors intend to continue investigating evidence of early silk production at Jiahu and other sites.

Top image: People preparing silk in old China. Source: Public Domain

By Mark Miller

1,700-Year-Old Silk Road Cemetery Contains Mythical Carvings

by Owen Jarus
Live Science

A cemetery dating back around 1,700 years has been discovered in Kucha, a city in China. The city played an important role along the Silk Road trade routes that connected China to the Roman Empire. Archaeologists have uncovered 10 tombs in the cemetery, seven of which are large structures made with bricks. This image shows part of the cemetery facing north. Credit: Chinese Cultural Relics

A cemetery dating back roughly 1,700 years has been discovered along part of the Silk Road, a series of ancient trade routes that once connected China to the Roman Empire.
The cemetery was found in the city of Kucha, which is located in present-day northwest China. Ten tombs were excavated, seven of which turned out to be large brick structures.
One tomb, dubbed "M3," contained carvings of several mythical creatures, including four that represent different seasons and parts of the heavens: the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the Black Turtle of the North and the Azure Dragon of the East. [See photos of the ancient Silk Road cemetery]

 

The M3 tomb also "consists of a burial mound, ramp, sealed gate, tomb entrance, screen walls, passage, burial chamber and side chamber" the researchers wrote in a report published recently in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.
The cemetery was first found in July 2007 and was excavated by the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, with assistance from local authorities. The research team, led by Zhiyong Yu, director of the Xinjiang Archaeological Institute, published the findings in Chinese in the journal Wenwu. The article was recently translated into English and published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.
Who was buried here?
The identity of the people buried in the cemetery is a mystery. The cemetery had been robbed in the past and no writing was found that indicates the names of those buried or their positions in life.
The seven large brick tombs were likely constructed for people of wealth, the researchers said.
But, when the skeletal remains were analyzed, the researchers found that the tombs had been reused multiple times. Some of the tombs contain more than 10 occupants, and the "repeated multiple burials warrant further study," the researchers wrote.
City on the Silk Road
The excavators think the cemetery dates back around 1,700 years, to a time when Kucha was vital to controlling the Western Frontiers (Xiyu) of China. Since the Silk Road trade routes passed through the Western Frontiers, control of this key region was important to China’s rulers.
"In ancient times, Kucha was called Qiuci in Chinese literature. It was a powerful city-state in the oasis of the Western Frontiers" the researchers wrote.
For the dynasties that flourished in China around 1,700 years ago "the conquest and effective governance of Kucha would enable them to control all the oasis city-states in the Western Frontiers," the researchers said.
In fact, one ancient saying was, "if you have Kucha, only one percent of the states in the Western Frontiers remain unsubmissive."
Chinese Cultural Relics is a new journal that translates Chinese-language articles, originally published in the journal Wenwu, into English. The discovery of the 1,700-year-old cemetery was included in its inaugural issue.

 

Ancient City Ruled by Genghis Khan's Heirs Revealed

by Owen Jarus

Archaeologists with the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore have uncovered part of the ancient city of Ukek, founded by the descendents of Genghis Khan. Credit: Photo courtesy Dmitriy Kubankin

Remains of a 750-year-old city, founded by the descendents of Genghis Khan, have been unearthed along the Volga River in Russia.
Among the discoveries are two Christian temples one of which has stone carvings and fine ceramics.
The city’s name was Ukek and it was founded just a few decades after Genghis Khan died in 1227. After the great conqueror’s death his empire split apart and his grandson Batu Khan, who lived from 1205 to 1255, founded the Golden Horde (also called the Kipchak Khanate).The Golden Horde kingdom stretched from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and controlled many of the Silk Road trade routes that connected China to Medieval Europe.

This city of Ukek was built close to the khan's summer residence along the Volga River, something which helped it become prosperous. The name "Golden Horde" comes from the golden tent from which the khan was said to rule. [See Photos of the Medieval 'Golden Horde' City and Artifacts]Christian quarter
Archaeologists with the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore have discovered the Christian quarter of Ukek, shedding light on the Christian people who lived under the Khan's rule. Ukek was a multicultural city, where a variety of religious beliefs were practiced including Islam, Christianity and Shamanism.
While Christians did not rule the Golden Horde, the discoveries archaeologists made show that not all the Christians were treated as slaves, and people of wealth frequented the Christian quarter of the city.
"Some items belonging to local elite were found in the Christian district," Dmitriy Kubankin, an archaeologist with the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore, told Live Science in an email."Among other things, there is a Chinese glass hair pin, with a head shaped as a split pomegranate, and a fragment of a bone plate with a carved dragon image."
Stone temples
Among the discoveries are the basements of two Christian temples. In eastern Christianity churches are sometimes called temples.

A bas relief showing a lion being clawed by a griffin was found in the remains of a Christian temple at the Ukek city site.
Credit: Photo courtesy Dmitriy Kubankin

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One of the temples was built around 1280 and was destroyed in the early 14th century. "It was roofed with tiles and decorated with murals and stone carving[s], both, from the outside and inside," Kubankinsaid.
"The best-preserved bas relief (a type of stone carving) features a lion being clawed by a griffin," said Kubankin, noting that another carving depicts a cross.
Within the basement of the temple, archaeologists found the remains of goods that may have been stored by local merchants, including fine plates and bottles that were imported from the Byzantine Empire, Egypt or Iran. "Any church cellar was considered a safe place to store goods in it, therefore, merchants from the nearest neighborhood used to keep (objects) of sale there," Kubankin said.
After the first Christian temple was destroyed in the early 14th century, a second temple was built in 1330 and remained in use until about 1350. "Most probably, it was stone-walled and had a tile roof. A part of its foundation with the apse has been unearthed," Kubankin said.
The fall of Ukek
The city of Ukek did not last for long. During the 14th century, the Golden Horde began to decline, and in 1395 Ukek was attacked by a ruler named Tamerlane, a man out to build an empire of his own. He destroyed Ukek and took over much of the territory formerly ruled by the Golden Horde, dealing them a blow from which they would never recover.
Today modern-day buildings cover much of Ukek. "This hampers any research and prevents complete unearthing of the entire [site], because it extends over several private land plots," Kubankin said.
“Nevertheless, digging just in one site may lead to significant discoveries.  Archaeological expeditions from the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore [have made] yearly excavations since 2005," said Kubankin, adding thatthese discoveries will soon be featured in a museum exhibition.
Kubankin presented the team's finds recently at the European Association of Archaeologists' annual meeting in Istanbul. The study is supported by the Saratov Regional Ministry of Culture, Russian Humanitarian Research Foundation grant (project 12-31-01246) and by the RIMKER Company.

Live Science

Shepherds Spread Grain Along Silk Road 5,000 Years Ago

 Kazakh boy holds the reins of two horses in the pasture.
Credit: Boy and horses via Shutterstock


Tim Wall, Discovery News

Nearly 5,000 years ago, nomadic shepherds opened some of the first links between eastern and western Asia. Archaeologists recently discovered domesticated crops from opposite sides of the continent mingled together in ancient herders' campsites found in the rugged grasslands and mountains of central Asia.
“Ancient wheat and broomcorn millet, recovered in nomadic campsites in Kazakhstan, show that prehistoric herders in Central Eurasia had incorporated both regional crops into their economy and rituals nearly 5,000 years ago,” said Micheal Frachetti, archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and co-author of the study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

One of the grains found in Kazahkstan, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), was cultivated in the Middle East by 6,000 years ago, but didn’t show up in East Asian archaeological sites until 4,500 years ago.
Likewise, another grain found in the shepherd’s camps, domesticated broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), may have originated in what is now China 8,000 years ago, but didn’t appear in southwestern Asia until 4,000 years ago.
Farming Sprang Up In Multiple Places
The nomadic shepherds may have been a crucial link across the vast expanse of steppe, desert and mountains that separated the agricultural and economic systems of eastern and western Asia.
Central Asian shepherds did more than transport grains. The archaeologists also found evidence that herders began farming millet, wheat, barley and legumes by 4,000 years ago. The discovery of this prehistoric agricultural activity in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan pushed back the earliest know farming in the region by 2,000 years.
Terracotta Warriors Inspired by Ancient Greek Art
The intrepid ancient shepherds of central Asia blazed trails that would expand into the economic highway of the ancient and medieval world. Eventually, the route would carry silks from Han Dynasty China to the Roman Empire and earn the name “Silk Road.”
The route remains in use today, though now railroads have replaced camels as the preferred means of travel.
This story was provided by Discovery News.

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