Evidence of the use of silk by bronze age civilization for sacrificial purposes in the Yangtze River basin of China.

ABSTRACT: Silk was the driving force behind the opening of the Silk Road, positioning this material as a global commodity that greatly influenced the progress of human civilization. Due to the natural protein properties of silk, the internal structure and external characteristics of silk cultural relics are irreversibly destroyed during the process of burial or when passed down through the generations until the production information and material components completely disappear, making it difficult to obtain direct archaeological evidence for pinpointing the origin of silk. The sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui archaeologcal site, located in Guanghan, Sichuan, China, have been found with layers of ash above the layers of artifacts and some bronzes with fabric traces. Among the artifacts, one grid-l

SUBMITTER: Zheng H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11589763 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature