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Megadroughts in arid central Asia delayed the cultural exchange along the proto-Silk Road


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IMAGE: Historical Silk Road trade routes are illustrated in red, and the white star marks the studied cave in Central Asia
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Credit: @Science China Press
The Silk Road was the most elaborate network of trade routes in the ancient world, linking ancient populations in East Asia to those in southwest Asia, via Central Asia. These trade routes fostered the spread of ideas, religions, and technologies over the past 2,000 years. Before the establishment of organized exchange, starting around the time of the Chinese Han Dynasty (2,223 years ago), a process of trans-Eurasian exchange was already underway through the river valleys and oases of Central Asia. The establishment of populations in the oases of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, China, was a major factor facilitating this trans-Eurasian exchange. However, archaeological evidence for human occupation in these arid regions as well as long-distance diffusion of cultural material is largel ....

United States , United Kingdom , Nei Mongol , Hai Xu , Rustam Orozbaev , Robert Spengler , John Dodson , Ruiliang Liu , R Lawrence Edwards , Guanghui Dong , Yanjun Cai , Zhaiming Li , Fahu Chen , Jianhui Chen , National Key Research , University Of Wollongong , Institute Of Earth Environment , Chinese Academy Of Sciences , Development Program Of China , Lanzhou University , Silk Road , East Asia , Chinese Han Dynasty , Taklimakan Desert , Arid Central Asia , Central Asia ,