Until recently, my vague idea of the Silk Road, the trade link from ancient east Asia to the West, was of camels crossing deserts laden with silk and spices. But a trip to the exhibition at London鈥檚 British Museum showed me how little I knew.
There were camels (pictured above), but far from being one road, there was a network of routes, moving art, jewels, food, religion and culture. The show, which ends on 23 February, focuses on the period from AD 500 to AD 1000, charting a swashbuckling journey of two-way trade covering Japan, China, North Africa, central Asia and Europe.
The story features gilded Buddhas, striking murals and lavish textiles. And, for the first time, many artefacts have been forensically analysed to reveal their origins. Darker histories are exposed, as slavery鈥檚 iron manacles contrast starkly with the trade in gleaming necklaces.
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Even amid the so-called Dark Ages, the tendrils of globalisation were unfurling, paving the way for the Renaissance.
