Imperial Horizons of the Silk Roads: Archaeological Case Studies

The enduring legacy of the Silk Roads are the goods and ideas that they facilitated and the technology that they disseminated. However, these trade routes also encompassed a web of communication, crucial for our understanding of the development of cultures, yet obscured by lack of research. This volume centres on how the exchange routes transformed the frontier regions of the Silk Road. In doing so, it utilises a range of methods to reach an archaeological interpretation of the factors that linked people with the environment; movements, settlements, and beliefs. In contrast to historical perspectives that have dominated the field to date, the volume incorporates physical records that offer a more reliable and objective understanding of the past. Taken as a whole, the case studies provide an overview of current developments where multiple lines of evidence are employed to integrate and resolve different data sets. Because trade connected a diversity of cultures, interdisciplinary collaboration is fundamental to reach the full research potential. The papers demonstrate precisely this significance by stretching across Europe, Asia, and Africa from the 4th millennium BC to the 10th century AD. The book is particularly timely given the scope of the Belt and Road Initiative, which threatens numerous archaeological sites across the Silk Roads.