Статья

Silkworm cultivation predating the Silk Road in southern Central Asia (2000 BCE)

Xinying ZhouUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaHui ShênUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaZhiqing LiIntegrative Science Center of Germplasm Creation in Western China (CHONGQING) Science City & Biological Science Research Center, Southwest University, Chongqing, ChinaRobert N. SpenglerDomestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, GermanyGuanhan ChenUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaHuiyun RaoUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaMutalibjon KhasannovFerghana Polytechnical InstituteKeliang ZhaoUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesYan WuUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesJian MaCenter for Archaeological Cooperation Research along the Silk Road, Northwest University, Xi’an, ChinaYì WángCenter for Archaeological Cooperation Research along the Silk Road, Northwest University, Xi’an, ChinaAkhmadali A. AskarovNational Center of Archeology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, UzbekistanFarhod MaksudovNational University of UzbekistanQingyou XiaSouthwest UniversityXinyi LiuDepartment of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USAX Y LiInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

2026en

ABI

Аннотация

Historical narratives hold that sericulture originated in China and spread along the Silk Road roughly two millennia ago. In questioning this assumption, we conducted micromorphological and proteomics analyses on three cocoons recovered from the Sapalli Tepe (approximately 2000 to 1500 BCE) site in Uzbekistan. We identified them as Bombyx mori , directly dated to 1940 to 1765 cal. BCE, representing the earliest remains of Bombyx cocoons. We further report the earliest mulberry ( Morus sp.) charcoal fragments from Central Asia, attesting to mulberry- Bombyx sericulture in the Oxus nearly 2000 years earlier than previously documented. We highlight that early silkworms and mulberry trees may have been introduced to Central Asia along the southern slope of the Himalayas, although other routes could also plausibly explain the observed pattern. This multidisciplinary research rewrites the enigmatic history of early sericulture and its globalization.

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Идентификаторы

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aec8738

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