Oldest Evidence of Silk Found in 8,500-Year-Old Tombs
Silk proteins were found in tombs at Jiahu in the Henan Province in central China. Shown here, grottoes in Henan Province.
The oldest evidence of silk made by silkworms has been found buried in 8,500-year-old tombs in China, revealing that people may have used the luxurious material thousands of years earlier than previously thought, a new study finds.
Silk was a rare luxury good in the ancient world. Its fame helped give a name to the Silk Road, the legendary network of trade routes that once connected the East and West from China to Rome.
The secret of how to make silk was first discovered in China. According to Chinese legend, after a silkworm cocoon dropped into the teacup of the wife of the Yellow Emperor, she found that the cocoon could unravel to yield about 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) of thread.
To learn more about the origins of silk, scientists investigated ruins dating back 9,000 years at Jiahu in the middle of Henan Province in central China. Previously at this site, scientists had unearthed bone flutes that are the earliest known playable musical instruments on Earth, as well as what may be the earliest Chinese writing.
http://www.livescience.com/57437-old...und-china.html