We DON'T know it all! Discovery proves Silk Road reached farther than believed

Ancient trade route was much more expansive than previously thought.

A well-known ancient trade network may have stretched much father than previously believed according to new evidence discovered in Nepal. Chinese-made objects in a 1,600 year-old tomb suggests the Silk Road may have extended south into Nepal.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The Silk Road was a famous series of trade routes that stretched from China and India all the way to Europe. Before the 15th century, this was the primary route by which products from Asia reached European markets.

During the classical and medieval periods, Asian craftsmanship and materials, such as silk, were highly prized. Spices, often exceedingly rare, could sell for their weight in gold. As a result, the Silk Road was filled with caravans moving east and west.

Few historians have ever considered that the Silk Road would also run north to south. However, new evidence suggests this happened. Archaeologists working in Nepal have found remarkably well preserved silk cloth and a funerary mask. The items were discovered in a tomb and appear to date from 400 AD to 650 AD.

Some color remains in the silk, revealing that Indian dyes were used to color the fabric.

Taken together, the mask and the silk as well as the paints and dyes used on them, which were sourced from both India and China, reveal the Silk Road was already a very complex trading route by the time of the late Roman Empire.

The discovery of the goods in Nepal also demonstrates that the Silk Road reached into a difficult region to access, suggesting that the Silk Road delivered even in high Nepal.

The conclusion is that while ancient people had less technology available to them, they still managed to develop very sophisticated networks based on dirt roads, wooden carts, and animal labor. The demand for exotic materials was high and kept massive quantities of material moving between Europe and Asia as well as the cultural exchange of technology and ideas.

Gunpowder, medicine, printing and many other modern conveniences originated in Asia, then traveled to Europe along the Silk Road, and spread globally in the centuries that followed.

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