Tim Williams co-authors Silk Roads exhibition volume

Silk Roads, co-authored by Sue Brunning (an Institute alumna and now Curator of the Early Medieval European Collections at the British Museum), Luk Yu-ping, Elisabeth R. O'Connell and Tim Williams, is a richly illustrated publication that explores the networks of contacts and exchanges spanning Afro-Eurasia from 500 to 1000 CE, highlighting how the movement of people, objects and ideas shaped cultures and histories.

The book challenges the concept of the ‘Silk Roads’ as a simple history of trade between East and West. Focusing on a series of overlapping geographical zones, interspersed with case studies of particular peoples who were active along these networks – seafarers in the Indian Ocean, Sogdians, Vikings, Aksumites, and the peoples of al-Andalus – it reveals remarkable human stories, innovations and the transfer of knowledge that emerged from these connections.

The Silk Roads exhibition launched on 26 September 2024 and will run until the 23 February 2025. This major exhibition, which has received a 5* review from The Guardian, unravels how the journeys of people, objects and ideas that formed the Silk Roads shaped cultures and histories.  

Read more

• Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum
• Silk Roads accompanying paperback 
• Silk Roads exhibition review (The Guardian)