Origins of the Silk Road

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Silk Road was a pivotal ancient exchange network that connected the grassy steppes of Asia and the Middle East with the western world. The passage of goods, ideas and technologies along this bustling commercial artery was crucial to the development of the ancient East and West. It was, quite simply, the glue that held the ancient world together. But what were the origins of this first global exchange network?

In today’s episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes seeks to answer that very question. Speaking to Dr. Miljana Radivojevic they discuss how people living in Bronze Age Central Asia helped build the world’s first and most famous trading route.

This episode was produced by Joseph Knight and edited by Aidan Lonergan

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Great Step, stretching from China to the Ukraine, this vast region of mountains, grasslands and rivers
0:16.5	is often associated with nomadic civilizations of ancient history. Think the Huns, the Scythians,
0:22.2	and the Shongnnu, for instance.
0:24.0	But that is oversimplifying their story, because more than 5,000 years ago, people living in Central Asia,
0:30.0	places like Kazakhstan today, where they were central and connecting east with west.
0:35.8	They were the glue which helped build the first global network back in the Bronze Age.
0:40.8	We can call this the origins of the famous Silk Roads. However, Silk was not the main
0:44.9	commodity being exchanged at that time. It was metals. Living in lands rich in metal
0:50.5	deposits, Central Asian communities became the suppliers of precious metals such
0:54.6	as copper and tin to great Bronze Age dynasties both in the East and in the West.
1:00.4	They were also spreading technologies too, think chariots for instance.
1:04.0	And so in this episode we'll be delving into the story of these ancient Central Asian communities,
1:09.0	their connections and their metalworking,
1:11.0	and even how this massive metalworking industry on the great step
1:14.8	may well have led to environment destruction and climate change.
1:18.2	That is all to come.
1:20.4	Our guest today is Dr. Miliana Radevoevich from University College London.
1:24.4	Migna is a leading expert on Bronze Age Metallogy in the Great Step and is also about to
1:29.5	embark on a groundbreaking research project on this very topic in Central Asia, so I was delighted
1:34.8	to get the chance to interview her at London Spotify Studio all about these origins of the
1:39.6	Silk Road before she left.
1:41.9	I really do hope you enjoy and here's Meiana.
	...

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