The Silk Road: Key Papers: The Pre-Islamic Period

The focus is when the Silk Road trade was at its height. Content is organized chronologically and geographically, concentrating on the sites which flourished in the 3rd and 4th centuries, then Turfan and Samarkand (500-800), closing with the period after 800, when Tang China withdrew troops from the region and local peoples reverted to a barter economy.