Trade in the Tarim? Evidence from the Material Culture of the Silk Road

The existence of sustained inter-regional trade in Central Asia in the first millennium is not particularly visible in textual sources and its extent, especially its economic impact, remains largely unexplored. But there are clear manifestations in both the material and textual sources of the interregional movement and development of religions, arts, and technologies in this period. Trade in prestige goods, the so-called Silk Road, involving regular movements of peoples and goods and the creation of surplus wealth, has long been accepted as a significant factor by many although still questioned by some.

In this seminar, Susan Whitfield will consider the evidence from the material culture of Buddhism, especially the spread of Buddhist architecture and the pigments used in cave temples in the Tarim Basin and Hexi Corridor in Chinese Central Asia dating from the fourth and fifth centuries onwards. She will consider whether trade is indeed a necessary or even essential factor in this. If a factor, then what can these artefacts tell us about the extent.