How Animals Paved the Great Silk Road
“The ‘discoverers’ of the Great Silk Road were animals,” say archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Novosibirsk State University. This conclusion was reached by scientists as a result of studying a previously unexplored cave in modern Kyrgyzstan — in the heart of the most famous trade route in human history. Findings made during archaeological excavations showed that in ancient times, people used paths created during seasonal migrations of animals.
The Mysteries of the Alai Valley
The Great Silk Road is the most famous trade route in human history, originating in the 3rd century BC and lasting until the 16th century. Its extensive network of caravan roads crossed Europe and Asia from the Mediterranean to China, with the longest section of the Silk Road passing through Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan.
In the summer of 2017, archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and Novosibirsk State University (NSU) explored the Selungur and Obishir caves in Kyrgyzstan. To the southeast of them lies the Alai Valley, which, if traveled eastward, leads to Kashgar — a huge trade hub in modern China and a key point on the Great Silk Road. The part of the trade route leading from Kashgar to the west passed through the Alai Valley and the areas of the Selungur and Obishir sites.
“Working in modern Kyrgyzstan is interesting because we are in the heart of the Great Silk Road. For centuries, people used it to transport goods and drive livestock across the continent. The first wave of globalization in human history passed along the Silk Road — a very ancient process and very important, especially for us archaeologists,” said William Taylor, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute (Germany), working with a team of Novosibirsk archaeologists.
Recent archaeological studies have shown that the routes of the Silk Road were formed by the seasonal movements of nomadic peoples who inhabited the region during the Bronze and early Iron Ages. However, to reconstruct the course of history, data on the reasons for its formation were lacking.
“A Unique Cave”
Scientists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and NSU discovered 15 archaeological sites in the Alai Valley, which allow a glimpse into the past of the Great Silk Road. These include Stone Age camps and workshops, Bronze and Iron Age settlements and burial sites, petroglyphs, and the most significant find — a cave with several cultural layers.
“We discovered a unique cave in the Alai Valley. Such types of sites are very rare. Not every cave in the mountains was inhabited in its time. We observe that the layers range from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. When we talk about the earliest stages of human settlement in Eurasia, we know certain points on the map, but how people got there, which people got there — that’s the question. The Alai Valley is located between the Fergana Valley and the Pamirs, where there are sites aged 8,000 to 11,000 years. According to our hypothesis, the migration routes of ancient humans passed through it,” said expedition participant Dr. Andrey Krivoshapkin in an interview with RT.
Ancient Paths
According to scientists, the development of the territory of Central Asia occurred simultaneously with the domestication of animals in the Neolithic (at least 8,000 years ago). This assumption was prompted by the similarity of stone tools found in the Fergana Valley and the Pamirs — they are practically identical.
The Alai Valley is located right between the Fergana Valley and the Pamirs. Scientists believe that it was through this valley that the migration of ancient humans occurred, and specific routes could have been indicated to people by animals. The animals moved in search of food, and humans followed them. Likely, by following the animals, people moved higher into the mountains in the summer and descended back down before winter set in. This route later became part of the Silk Road.
“The cave in the Alai Valley has become a very important discovery: later, part of the Silk Road passed through it from its key point — the major trade center of Kashgar (in modern China). We believe that it was the animals that showed people this route by migrating in search of food,” stated Krivoshapkin.
According to the scientist, this is still a hypothesis, but research on the cave continues.
“We hope to find answers to key questions about the history of the inhabitants of Central Asia,” concluded Krivoshapkin.