Sheep on Roads of Silk

Central Asian nomads traditionally kept five kinds of animals—horses, sheep, goats, camels, and cows. Of those, it can be said that sheep were one of the most important animals which contributed to forth the prosperity of the Silk Road.

Sheep were domesticated about 10,000 years ago in Central Asia, probably from an originally wild sheep species. Nonetheless, it took years for people to learn to spin wool, one of the most essential products along the Silk Roads. Ironically, it was wool that changed life and history along the so-called Silk Roads. Despite the commercial development of the Silk Roads, the spread of civilization would have been impossible without sheep. It is claimed that sheep husbandry is humanity’s oldest organized industry and that wool was the first commodity of sufficient value to warrant international trade along what came to be called the Silk Roads.

To read more, download our webzine Silkroadia V.3 and read ‘Sheep on roads of silk’ written by Maryam Bolouri (Ph.D. student at Department of English Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Teheran, Iran)