Overview
'The true soul of this new exhibition has been encapsulated within a single book, a treasure trove of stories, images, and insights that brought the ancient trade routes to life.' - .Cent magazine A richly illustrated publication that explores the networks of contacts and exchanges spanning Afro-Eurasia from 500 to 1000 ce, highlighting how the movement of people, objects and ideas shaped cultures and histories. The term 'Silk Road' conjures a range of romantic images. Camel caravans crossing desert dunes. Merchants trading silk and spices. Far-flung commerce between 'East' and 'West'. The reality was far richer. Focusing on a defining period between 500 and 1000 CE, this beautifully illustrated book reimagines the Silk Roads as a web of interlocking networks linking Asia, Africa and Europe, from Japan to Ireland, from the Arctic to Madagascar. It tells a remarkable story of people, objects and ideas flowing in all directions, through the traces these journeys left behind - including ceramics from Tang China recovered from a shipwreck in the Java Sea, sword-fittings set with Indian garnets buried in England, and a selection of letters and legal texts from a synagogue in Cairo revealing a Jewish community's links from India to al-Andalus. Woven throughout, encounters with various peoples active on the Silk Roads, from seafarers to Sogdians, Aksumites and Vikings, reveal the human stories, innovations and transfers of knowledge that emerged, shaping cultures and histories across continents centuries before the formation of today's globalised world.
Full Product Details
Author: Sue Brunning ,
Luk Yu-ping ,
Elisabeth R. O’Connell ,
Tim Williams
Publisher: British Museum Press
Imprint: British Museum Press
Weight: 1.860kg
ISBN: 9780714124971
ISBN 10: 0714124974
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 26 September 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available
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Author Information
Sue Brunning is Curator, European Early Medieval Collections in the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum and co-curator of Silk Roads, an exhibition opening in September 2024. Luk Yu-ping is Basil Gray Curator: Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collection in the Department of Asia at the British Museum and co-curator of Silk Roads, an exhibition opening in September 2024. Elisabeth R. O'Connell is Curator, Byzantine World in the Departments of Britain, Europe and Prehistory and Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum and co-curator of Silk Roads, an exhibition opening in September 2024. Tim Williams is Emeritus Professor of Silk Roads Archaeology at University College London.
