Silk Road extended to Nepal: new textile findings

The first results of textile and dye analyses of cloth dated between 400-650 AD have been recovered in Nepal, suggesting that the Silk Road extended further south than previously thought, researchers say.
Identification of degummed silk fibres and munjeet and Indian lac dyes in the textile finds suggests that imported materials from China and India were used in combination with those locally produced, researchers said.
"There is no evidence for local silk production suggesting that Samdzong was inserted into the long-distance trade network of the Silk Road," said Margarita Gleba from University of Cambridge in the UK.
The first results of textile and dye analyses of cloth dated between 400-650 AD were recovered from Samdzong 5, in Upper Mustang, Nepal.

"The data reinforce the notion that instead of being isolated and remote, Upper Mustang was once a small, but important node of a much larger network of people and places," said Gleba.
"These textiles can further our understanding of the local textile materials and techniques, as well as the mechanisms through which various communities developed and adapted new textile technologies to fit local cultural and economical needs," Gleba said.

The cloth remains are of further significance as very few contemporary textile finds are known from Nepal. The dry climate and high altitude of the Samdzong tomb complex, at an elevation of 4000 metres, favoured the exceptional preservation of the organic materials, researchers said.

One of the cloth objects recovered is composed of wool fabrics to which copper, glass and cloth beads are attached. It was found near a coffin of an adult along with a spectacular gold/silver funerary mask, researchers said.
The mask has small pinholes around its edges, suggesting it had been sewn to a fabric, and probably constitutes the remains of a complex, decorative headwear, they said.