Recent discoveries have uncovered evidence that the Ancient Silk Road extended through Israel. Rosalie Strother investigates.
Wander down the Paris End of Collins Street and you’ll quickly be dazzled by the latest fashions from Dior or Georgio Armani. Imagine – your eye is caught by a stylish silk jacket, the olive green open weave is shot through with a contrasting orange grid design; random discs artfully break up the pattern on every third or fourth line. It’s a great look – but a little unaffordable!
Astonishingly, this is a fabric design found on a fragment of colourful silk that’s part of a treasure trove of ancient offcuts uncovered by archaeologists in the Arava Desert, south of the Dead Sea basin, on the border of Israel and Jordan. The fabrics date to the Early Islamic Period about 1,300 years ago, with colours and the weaving styles remarkably well preserved. Archaeologists suggest that the silk came from China. Other cotton fragments likely originated in India.
A team from the Israel Antiquities Authority, assisted by university experts, is excited by this discovery of the first evidence of an “Israeli Silk Route,” a previously unknown sector of the famous trade route. The Silk Road consisted of a network of routes across Asia and Eastern Europe. According to Nofar Shamir, from the University of Haifa and an expert in fabrics, “This is the first time that items dating back to this period have been found in Israel. The variety and richness of the findings show that luxury goods from the East were in high demand at the time.”
A variety of techniques were used in the production of the fabrics. Some were a blend of white cotton and coloured wool woven together in a complex process similar to that still used in making rugs in Iran and Central Asia. “The findings from the excavation reflect unique contacts on a global level with sources of fabric manufacturing in the Far East,” says Professor Guy Gar Oz, also from the University of Haifa. “They provide us with new ways to track political, technological and social interactions that have been constantly reshaped by trade networks.”
More than specific road or route, the ‘Silk Road’ was a network of trade routes used for more than 1,500 years, from about 130 BC when China opened up to trade, to 1453 AD, when the Ottoman Empire closed off trade with the West. It carried more than just merchandise and luxury goods. The constant movement of populations along the route contributed to the transmission of knowledge, ideas, cultures and beliefs, with a profound impact throughout its length. Intellectual and cultural exchange took place in the cities along the Silk Road, which saw the rise and fall of numerous empires over its time.
The routes also played a major part in the dissemination of religions throughout Eurasia, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. This recent discovery of an Israeli branch of the traditional Silk Road, which connected to other historical trade routes in the area, provides evidence of an important link of the region to the vast network that existed between East and West.
Although the subsequent Age of Exploration produced much faster routes between East and West, sections of the Silk Road continued to provide critical links in some regions. Parts of the Silk Road are listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and it is hard to overestimate the importance of the Silk Road on history. But even more, the range of stylish and colourful designs just uncovered reveals that a true designer’s eye is timeless – and from that point of view, the ancient silk road is closer than we think.
