8 pm EST/5pm PST
25 April 2025
Academic Lecture
P.Y. and Kinmay Tang Center for Silk Road Studies
U.C. Berkeley, USA
Some of the earliest evidence for far-flung Afro-Eurasian exchange survives from the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3,500-1170 BCE). As one of many regions involved in an intricate web of down-the-line exchange, the Aegean bears evidence of connections with the modern-day British Isles, Scandinavia, sub-Saharan Africa, and western and southeast Asia, among other areas. The movement of raw materials, finished objects, text, and iconography contributes to a quickly growing study of the highly interconnected Afro-Eurasian Bronze Age World. One of the difficulties of garnering a more nuanced understanding of such a network is the element of time: inorganic objects and raw materials that survive as a testament to this system could be transported over weeks or months with little regard for environmental stability, maintenance, or upkeep. Many of these objects may be heirlooms, passed down and/or exchanged over generations -- hundreds of years and potentially thousands of miles.
This investigation seeks to better understand the possible immediacy of this network by examining the evidence for the direct observation and study of, as well as engagement with various animals and the commodities derived from and associated with them during the Bronze Age. The resilience of traveling species is also addressed, informed via consultation with ornithological, primatological, and herpetological specialists. Supplementary evidence from archaeobotany, organic residue analysis, and other modern scientific analytical methods suggests a far-reaching and nuanced network of interconnection. When taken together, this evidence may indicate that travel was perhaps more frequent, quick, and reliable than scholars previously estimated.
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