From finely-woven manuscript wrappers like LOAN:STEIN.337 to painted religious banners like EO 1149 and ancient shoes like 1928,1022.196, these objects speak to hundreds of years of cultural diversity which fuelled a thriving network of production and commerce along the Silk Roads.
In addition to an abundance of Chinese silks, which were commonly found throughout the Central Asian trading routes, other fibres like wool, hemp, leather and fur are also represented. The textiles display an enormous range of weaving techniques, embroidery and finishing details, such as dying methods including clamp-resist dying or woodblock stamping.
The oldest textile fragments were excavated from Loulan, an archaeological site in the modern province of Xinjiang. In addition to silks that display typical Han dynasty patterning expected for this time period (220 BCE – 8 CE), wools recovered from this site have been radiocarbon dated to 800 BCE – 200 BCE, an interesting discovery that requires further study. Often, artefacts like burial shrouds or ritual banners reveal the ways in which ancient peoples used textiles in their daily lives.
