The Silk Roads in the Bronze Age: critical links between Eurasia and China

  • Betts, Alison (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
  • Vicziany, Antonia (Chief Investigator (CI))
  • Di Castro, Andrea (Chief Investigator (CI))
  • Dodson, John (Partner Investigator (PI))
  • Cong, Dexin (Partner Investigator (PI))
  • Li, Xiao Qiang (Partner Investigator (PI))
  • Salzman, Philip (Partner Investigator (PI))

Project: Research

Project Details

Project Description

The early rise of China's great civilization owed its rapid momentum to important technological innovations that were brought in from the far distant Eurasian steppes, but almost nothing is known of how or why this process took place. The project will explore these questions through excavations at one of China's most important Bronze Age archaeological sites in western Xinjiang. The innovations include the cultivation of wheat and barley, complex metallurgical techniques in bronze, silver and gold, the domesticated horse and the spoke-wheeled chariot, which became a universal weapon of war across the ancient world. Theories of cultural transmission will be tested through interactive GIS modelling of environment and land use potential.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/01/1531/12/18

Funding

  • Australian Research Council (ARC): A$673,882.00