Cats on the Silk Road: How Nomadic People Kept Cats as Pets 1,000 Years Ago
Cats on the Silk Road: How Nomadic People Kept Cats as Pets 1,000 Years Ago
Long-distance trade is nothing new. Just look at the fact that long-distance trade routes existed in the Bronze Age, the era when copper was the most commonly used metal for metalworking. In fact, we can say that civilization couldn't have transitioned from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age without long-distance trade, as bronze production requires tin, alongside copper. This is important because tin is a fairly rare resource, meaning that most Bronze Age cultures needed to trade for it.
Trade routes in the pre-modern world traversed both land and water. Generally speaking, the latter was preferred over the former. Yes, water can be dangerous. However, so is land. Moreover, and most importantly, seafaring vessels could transport more cargo at a faster rate and for a lower cost than land caravans, making them the best option. Despite this, many trade routes connected with land due to necessity, with the Silk Road being a prime example. Like many other trade routes, the Silk Road is named for its most important commodity. For those unfamiliar, wild silk is collected at different times and in different locations. However, wild silk had a number of serious drawbacks that made it difficult to produce usable products on a large scale. First, wild silk had to be found. Second, most wild silk was in the form of cocoons that had already been vacated by the pupae, meaning that their threads were broken up into shorter lengths. Third, a significant portion of the cocoons were covered in a layer of mineral matter that made them more difficult to work with. All things considered, it is no wonder that cultivated silk proved to be the superior product, which in turn ensured that the Silk Road started in China.
It is difficult to pin down exactly when silk began to be used in China, with evidence suggesting its use around 8,500 years ago. Additionally, there are surviving silk samples dating back around 5,630 years. Regardless, it is important that China began to produce silk on a large scale, raising silkworms, boiling cocoons, and then removing the unwound threads for further processing. This fabric proved to be so popular in various cultures that we have surviving works by Roman writers who complained that Roman elites spent too much money on clothes that were clearly unbecoming.
Of course, travelling the distance between China and the Mediterranean Sea is easier said than done. Take the Silk Road, for instance, whose most famous route began in China, travelled through Central Asia to Palmyra, before splitting off into two branches: the Northern branch terminating in what is now Istanbul and the Southern branch ending in Egypt. Most people didn't travel the entire length of the Silk Road. Instead, the route was made up of a series of middlemen, which limited the risk of each individual involved while still providing them with ample opportunities to become very, very wealthy. Of course, silk wasn't the only good traded along the Silk Road. Additionally, it should be noted that this trade was also a very effective transmitter of ideas, to the extent that it played a significant role in the spread of more than one major religion.
As mentioned previously, sea routes had advantages over land. Thus, the Silk Road's importance diminished during the Early Modern period when European explorers discovered new routes connecting Europe and East Asia, allowing them to bypass Central Asia and the Middle East. On top of this, there were political issues in some of the states that kept the Silk Road going, which further contributed to its eventual demise.
What Was Discovered on the Silk Road?
Regardless, it should come as no surprise that when people are interested in the Silk Road's sites, they often find new discoveries. For instance, a recent discovery in what is now southern Kazakhstan suggests that locals were keeping cats as pets over a thousand years ago. To put it simply, the majority of the regions traversed by the Silk Road were home to nomadic and semi-nomadic people, rather than agriculturalists. This is not surprising, as not every place can support agriculture on a permanent basis, resulting in different lifestyles to cope with differing environments. The people involved in this discovery are thought to have been the Oghuz, a Western Turkic people who were spread throughout Central Asia. They did have a capital called Dhzankent, but for the most part they were nomadic, relying on their herds of goats, sheep, and cattle.
Thus, the discovery of a cat's remains in Dhzankent makes sense. After all, cats are less used by nomadic people than dogs, meaning that it is not particularly common to find them among nomadic peoples. However, what was particularly unusual was that these remains showed a considerable amount of trauma throughout its life, to the extent that it had even lost its canines and a few other teeth by the end of it. This might sound rather depressing. However, this should be interpreted in a more positive light as the trauma means that the cat wouldn't have been able to survive unless it was being cared for. Further supporting this is the fact that it was still enjoying a high-protein diet, suggesting that it was regularly fed expensive meat. In other words, just like cats in the pre-modern period, this cat was very pampered.
That said, the cat's discovery provides a number of interesting insights. First, it is one of the earliest cases of cat domestication in Central Asia, a region that has not been studied enough in this regard. Second, it is a strong sign of cultural exchange that happened along the Silk Road, as cats are uncommon in nomadic societies. In fact, evidence for pet keeping in nomadic societies is not very common, meaning that this particular discovery is likely to be discussed for many years to come.
Long-distance trade is nothing new. Just look at the fact that long-distance trade routes existed in the Bronze Age, the era when copper was the most commonly used metal for metalworking. In fact, we can say that civilization couldn't have transitioned from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age without long-distance trade, as bronze production requires tin, alongside copper. This is important because tin is a fairly rare resource, meaning that most Bronze Age cultures needed to trade for it.
Trade routes in the pre-modern world traversed both land and water. Generally speaking, the latter was preferred over the former. Yes, water can be dangerous. However, so is land. Moreover, and most importantly, seafaring vessels could transport more cargo at a faster rate and for a lower cost than land caravans, making them the best option. Despite this, many trade routes connected with land due to necessity, with the Silk Road being a prime example. Like many other trade routes, the Silk Road is named for its most important commodity. For those unfamiliar, wild silk is collected at different times and in different locations. However, wild silk had a number of serious drawbacks that made it difficult to produce usable products on a large scale. First, wild silk had to be found. Second, most wild silk was in the form of cocoons that had already been vacated by the pupae, meaning that their threads were broken up into shorter lengths. Third, a significant portion of the cocoons were covered in a layer of mineral matter that made them more difficult to work with. All things considered, it is no wonder that cultivated silk proved to be the superior product, which in turn ensured that the Silk Road started in China.
It is difficult to pin down exactly when silk began to be used in China, with evidence suggesting its use around 8,500 years ago. Additionally, there are surviving silk samples dating back around 5,630 years. Regardless, it is important that China began to produce silk on a large scale, raising silkworms, boiling cocoons, and then removing the unwound threads for further processing. This fabric proved to be so popular in various cultures that we have surviving works by Roman writers who complained that Roman elites spent too much money on clothes that were clearly unbecoming.
Of course, travelling the distance between China and the Mediterranean Sea is easier said than done. Take the Silk Road, for instance, whose most famous route began in China, travelled through Central Asia to Palmyra, before splitting off into two branches: the Northern branch terminating in what is now Istanbul and the Southern branch ending in Egypt. Most people didn't travel the entire length of the Silk Road. Instead, the route was made up of a series of middlemen, which limited the risk of each individual involved while still providing them with ample opportunities to become very, very wealthy. Of course, silk wasn't the only good traded along the Silk Road. Additionally, it should be noted that this trade was also a very effective transmitter of ideas, to the extent that it played a significant role in the spread of more than one major religion.
As mentioned previously, sea routes had advantages over land. Thus, the Silk Road's importance diminished during the Early Modern period when European explorers discovered new routes connecting Europe and East Asia, allowing them to bypass Central Asia and the Middle East. On top of this, there were political issues in some of the states that kept the Silk Road going, which further contributed to its eventual demise.
What Was Discovered on the Silk Road?
Regardless, it should come as no surprise that when people are interested in the Silk Road's sites, they often find new discoveries. For instance, a recent discovery in what is now southern Kazakhstan suggests that locals were keeping cats as pets over a thousand years ago. To put it simply, the majority of the regions traversed by the Silk Road were home to nomadic and semi-nomadic people, rather than agriculturalists. This is not surprising, as not every place can support agriculture on a permanent basis, resulting in different lifestyles to cope with differing environments. The people involved in this discovery are thought to have been the Oghuz, a Western Turkic people who were spread throughout Central Asia. They did have a capital called Dhzankent, but for the most part they were nomadic, relying on their herds of goats, sheep, and cattle.
Thus, the discovery of a cat's remains in Dhzankent makes sense. After all, cats are less used by nomadic people than dogs, meaning that it is not particularly common to find them among nomadic peoples. However, what was particularly unusual was that these remains showed a considerable amount of trauma throughout its life, to the extent that it had even lost its canines and a few other teeth by the end of it. This might sound rather depressing. However, this should be interpreted in a more positive light as the trauma means that the cat wouldn't have been able to survive unless it was being cared for. Further supporting this is the fact that it was still enjoying a high-protein diet, suggesting that it was regularly fed expensive meat. In other words, just like cats in the pre-modern period, this cat was very pampered.
That said, the cat's discovery provides a number of interesting insights. First, it is one of the earliest cases of cat domestication in Central Asia, a region that has not been studied enough in this regard. Second, it is a strong sign of cultural exchange that happened along the Silk Road, as cats are uncommon in nomadic societies. In fact, evidence for pet keeping in nomadic societies is not very common, meaning that this particular discovery is likely to be discussed for many years to come.
This article is original, please keep the link when forwarding:https://www.5zo.net/showinfo-4-88181-0.html