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Silk Road Fashion: Vestimentary knowledge in eastern Asia from 2nd Millennium BC to 1st Millennium AD

Extreme drought has preserved clothing from past millennia exceptionally well in some places in East Asia. In this project, specialists from many countries are jointly investigating the technical knowledge and design intentions of the producers and wearers of this clothing.

Archaeological textile research - 3000-year-old art and techniques on show in Chemnitz. © DAI_EA // Pascal Olschewski

DAI Standort  Eurasia Department, Beijing Branch

Projektart  Verbundforschung mit Teilprojekten

Laufzeit  seit 01.08.2013

Projektverantwortlicher  Prof. Dr. Mayke Wagner, Moa Hallgren-Brekenkamp

Adresse  Im Dol 2-6 , 14195 Berlin

Email  Mayke.Wagner@dainst.de

Team  Prof. Dr. Mayke Wagner, Moa Hallgren-Brekenkamp, Xiaocheng Chen

Laufzeit  seit 2013

Projektart  Verbundforschung mit Teilprojekten

Partner  Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Chemie, Bereich Organische Chemie, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW), Turfanforschung, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Freie Universität Berlin, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Ostasiatische Kunstgeschichte, Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung (IZW) im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V., LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Fachrichtung Paläontologie, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Bureau of Cultural Heritage (VR China), Academia Turfanica und Museum der Region Turfan (VR China), Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage (VR China), Natural Sciences Unit at the Head Office, Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory, Museum der Region Hami (VR China), Museum der autonomen Region der Uiguren Xinjiang (VR China), Universität Zürich, Asien-Orient-Institut

Förderer  Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Schwerpunktförderung „Sprache der Objekte“

Schlagworte  Textilverarbeitung, Textilien

Projekt-ID  5782

Permalink  https://www.dainst.org/projekt/-/project-display/56627

Overview

Silk Road Fashion is a research project of the Beijing branch of the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute in cooperation with numerous institutions worldwide. The research focuses on clothing and outfits from 3000 to 1000 years ago in East Asia. From 2013 to 2016, the project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the "Language of Objects - Material Culture in the Context of Social Developments" (German: „Sprache der Objekte – Materielle Kultur im Kontext gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen“) call. As part of the research, the results are verified by replicating the clothing objects in their original size and carrying out wear tests.

Projectfilms:

The Invention of the Trousers

Lady in Silk

Explanatory films - The Textile Process (german)


You can find our project on page 161 of the DAI's current research plan:

PDF Forschungsplan DAI


Results and information on ongoing work can be found here:

DAI Blog Bridging Eurasia - Silk Road Fashion

Our reconstruction of the oldest found trousers can be seen until February 1, 2026, in the exhibition "Who's Wearing the Pants?” at the Weltmuseum Wien. Exhibition poster in Vienna. © DAI_EA // Moa Hallgren-Brekenkamp
Mayke Wagner et al.: Lady in Silk: Fashion 2000 Years Ago. Join-in and discovery books on East Asian archaeology, volume 4. Also available in English at the following link: https://publications.dainst.org/books/dai/catalog/book/2149 © DAI_EA // Photo: Jan Kersten, animation: Zorika Gaeta, layout: Bauer+Möhring
Mayke Wagner and Pavel E. Tarasov: The Invention of trousers: Book and Film. Join-in and discovery books on East Asian archaeology Volume 1, Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag & Media Mainz am Rhein 2018. ISBN 978-3-96176-056-5 © ö_konzept // Jan Kersten
The clothes of the Turfan man, with the oldest surviving trousers in the world. Left: The archaeological find, tomb IM21, Yanghai, 3000 years ago, Turfan, Xinjiang, China. Right: Reconstruction of the complete equipment. © DAI_EA // Dominic Hosner; Jan Kersten
Documentation of clothing finds from Niya, 1st century, Xinjiang, China, 2014. © DAI_EA // Joy Zhou
Footage from the documentary "Lady in Silk", 2023. Detail of the reconstruction of an outfit from Niya, 1st century, Xinjiang, China. © DAI_EA // Falco Seliger
Yanghai site, Turfan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. © DAI_EA // Mayke Wagner
Logo of the Silk Road Fashion project. © DAI_EA // ö_konzept Agentur für integrierte Kommunikation

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