Silk Roads

'Filled with insights, the very latest research and plenty of surprises: a superlative catalogue of one the most ambitious and spectacular exhibitions ever staged at the British Museum.' - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

'A sumptuous book...a book of the exotic and the wonderful, a trip to ancient and far-away lands, a book full of artistic and cultural treasures, a book to savour and enjoy.' - Sacred Hoop 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.

About the Authors

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.