Goods of all sorts were traded between the city centers and markets along the Silk Road, including precious objects such as jade, ivory, gold and furs; manufactured items of bronze, iron, lacquerware and ceramics; animals such as horses, sheep, peacocks and elephants; and food stuffs like pomegranates, safflowers and carrots.
Samarkand was an important connection on the Silk Road, and today lies in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. The photo of the fruit stand and sellers in Samarkand was taken between 1905 and 1915, by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, and is on file at the U.S. Library of Congress.
Further Information
- Traveling the Silk Road, Official Exhibition webpage at the AMNH
- Along the Silk Road, background
- History of horses
- Domestication of pomegranates
