Study: Sericulture Reached Central Asia Before Silk Road

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — An international group of scientists concluded that domesticated silkworms from China appeared in Central Asia about 4,000 years ago — nearly two thousand years before the formation of the Silk Road.

Researchers reached these conclusions based on the study of archaeological finds discovered at the Bronze Age site of Sapallitepa in southern Uzbekistan. The results of the study were published on 23 July in the scientific journal Science Advances.

The study is based on the analysis of three dried silkworm cocoons and mulberry wood remains found by Chinese and Uzbek archaeologists during fieldwork in 2017–2019. Specialists from six scientific institutions in China, Uzbekistan, Germany, and the United States participated in the research.

As the study's authors note, it was previously believed that Chinese silk began spreading westward only during the Han Dynasty, when the Silk Road formed. The new data, according to researchers, indicates a significantly earlier spread of sericulture technology.

Professor Xia Qingyou of Southwest University in Chongqing reported that protein analysis confirmed that the discovered cocoons belong to the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori). According to him, this species cannot exist without humans and feeds exclusively on mulberry leaves. The age of the finds is estimated at approximately 4,000 years.

Study lead Zhou Xinying from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences noted that archaeologists discovered not only cocoons, but also evidence of mulberry cultivation. According to her, this may indicate the mastery of silk production in Central Asia long before the emergence of the Silk Road.

The study of soil samples from Sapallitepa revealed thousands of plant remains alongside the three silkworm cocoons. Analysis using scanning electron microscopy showed that the fiber structure corresponds to Bombyx mori cocoons. However, the ancient fibers were thinner than modern ones, which, according to the authors, may indicate an early stage of domestication of this species.

In addition, scientists discovered mulberry charcoal at three archaeological sites — Sapallitepa, Jarkutan, and Molali. According to researcher Shen Hui, the proportion of mulberry wood increased from 10 percent at Sapallitepa to 60 percent at Molali, which may indicate the gradual expansion of its cultivation.

Researchers also identified remains of citrus plant wood, the natural habitat of which is located in the southeastern Himalayas. According to the authors, this indicates contacts between Central and South Asia during the Bronze Age.

Having analyzed archaeological data on the distribution of mulberry in Asia, scientists hypothesized that sericulture traditions spread from China along the southern slopes of the Himalayas and only then reached Central Asia, rather than via northern routes that later became part of the Silk Road.

The authors of the study believe that the results allow the spread of sericulture to be viewed as part of a broader process of early interregional contacts alongside the spread of millet, wheat, domestic animals, and metallurgical technologies between China, Central, and South Asia in the third and second millennia BC.

In their view, the discovery also opens new directions for studying the history of sericulture and the routes through which this technology spread in ancient Eurasia.