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Silkworm cocoons found in Uzbekistan date silk trade earlier

A study in Science Advances estimates the Uzbekistan cocoons are about 4,000 years old, implying silk spread to Central Asia around 2,000 years earlier than the traditional Silk Road timeline.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Emerging Markets

Archaeologists have found evidence that silkworm cocoons were transported out of China far earlier than previously believed, potentially rewriting parts of the classic history of silk trade and the Silk Road.

According to a new study reported by SCMP Economy, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis located three silkworm cocoons along the Surkhan-Darya River in southeast Uzbekistan, a waterway that runs through Central Asia between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

The team estimated the cocoons are about 4,000 years old, which they say places their transfer to Central Asia roughly 2,000 years before the widely accepted narrative of silk spreading along Silk Road routes.

Lead author Xinyi Liu said the artifact is the oldest known reliable example of a silkworm cocoon, with the findings published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

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