Paleolithic People Nurtured Their Pets

Scientists are still puzzled about when and how humans first befriended dogs, but we know it was a very long time ago. One of the earliest pet puppers lived 14,000 years ago in modern-day Germany — and it wasn’t even a working dog, demonstrating a close bond based more on affection than function.

In 2018, researchers analyzed a Paleolithic grave that contained two humans and two dogs. The younger of the two dogs was around 27 weeks old (a little over 6 months) when it died, and it showed evidence of an illness that suggests it wouldn’t have even lived that long without human intervention. Puppies are vulnerable to a serious illness called canine distemper, which is almost always fatal if untreated. The dog in the grave showed a serious case of distemper that developed when it was just 3 or 4 months old, yet it went on to live another two to three months.  The discovery implies a nurturing, loving relationship with dogs that stretches back thousands of years.

Mesolithic People May Have Taken Camping Trips

Just as modern humans occasionally like a change of scenery, Mesolithic people in Scotland ventured out on short trips — though more likely for hunting purposes than sightseeing and leisure. A campsite uncovered on the Mar Lodge Estate historic site in the Scottish Highlands seemed designed for one single short-term stay. Archaeologists found evidence of a campfire and limited tool-making, and believe a very small group of people stayed here one time for only a day or two. A similar site was discovered in Nairn, Scotland, about 45 miles away, in 2011. Another excavation in the Mar Lodge Estate site found a longer-term Mesolithic settlement, but archaeologists don’t think it was used year-round because of harsh winter conditions.

Some Neolithic People Lived in Urban Environments

It’s easy to imagine early hominids spreading out or just grabbing the nearest cave, but at least one group of humans from the Neolithic era built pretty close quarters around 9,000 years ago. In Çatalhöyük, located in central Turkey, early people built mud-brick houses up against each other and on top of each other; researchers believe the site could have as many as 16 layers of homes. Each home had a hearth, oven, and platforms that were likely used for sleeping. The settlement didn’t have streets, so people traveled on the roof, which is also where they entered their homes. Residents kept their homes tidy, and dumped their trash in small open areas between buildings. Cemeteries were also part of these vertical cities; people buried their dead beneath the floor.

Humans Have Been Making Art for More Than 40,000 Years

Southeast Asia is home to some incredibly ancient cave art, including the oldest known figurative drawings — art that depicts a specific form instead of just being abstract. One cave painting in Borneo depicting a four-legged animal dates back at least 40,000 years, but potentially as many as 52,000 years. Scientists suspect it’s a banteng, a species of cattle that still exists both in captivity and the wild. Another painting, from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, at least 44,000 years old, shows a buffalo being hunted by half-human, half-animal creatures. A cave painting of a Sulawesi warty pig is at least 45,500 years old. Abstract art, meanwhile, goes back even further. Cave art on the Iberian Peninsula in Spain, potentially made by Neanderthals, is at least 64,000 years old.

We’re Still Discovering New Human Species

In the last 150 years, scientists identified some very early human species. Homo habilis, for instance, discovered in 1960, lived between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago. Homo rudolfensis, discovered in 1986, lived between 1.9 million and 1.8 million years ago. And Homo erectus, discovered in 1890, lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago. In more recent years, genetic research has turned up other previously unknown species that we are still learning about. Scientists discovered the Denisovans in 2008 as a separate species based on genetic sequencing of fossils. Other species of ancient humans have only been found in the genome. One human species started breeding with Homo sapiens around 43,000 years ago. Some are much, much older: When Neanderthals and Denisovans first reached Europe and Asia hundreds of thousands of years ago, so-called “super archaics” were already there. Neanderthals and Denisovans mated with them and eventually replaced them, just as modern humans would eventually do to Neanderthals and Denisovans.

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Paper

It’s easy to take paper for granted now, but in the early days of the Silk Road, it was a new technology for many cultures. Early writing appeared on clay, bone, wax, and parchment, which was made from animal skins and was labor-intensive to create. The first known paper, made from mulberry fibers and other discarded materials, appeared in China during the Han dynasty (25 to 220 CE). Buddhist monks started sharing religious writing on paper because it was durable and easy to transport. It spread through religious communities first and eventually hit trade routes.

Paper was extraordinarily useful — merchants both sold it and used it themselves for recordkeeping — so it spread quickly. It was a popular item in its own right, as well as a means to convey other valuable commodities, such as scientific ideas and literature. Many regions set up their own paper industries; Baghdad, for example, became known for producing stationery. Paper production eventually reached Europe via Sicily and Spain, but Chinese paper remained a valuable export because it was considered higher quality.

Gunpowder

Gunpowder is a carefully measured mix of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur, designed to burn quickly and trap enough gas to propel an object, be it a firework or a cannonball. It was a later addition to Silk Road trade routes, and its exact history is unclear, though it’s believed to have originated in China, where it was in use by the 10th century CE — and possibly a few centuries earlier — for signaling and fireworks. Its use in weaponry originated in China, too, starting between the 10th and 12th centuries CE, with a precursor to a gun made out of a bamboo reed. Full-fledged guns evolved by the end of the 13th century, and soon moved westward. Guns and gunpowder reached the Middle East by 1304 CE, and were introduced to Europe, including England and France, by the end of the 14th century CE.

Spices and Tea

Spices are among the oldest goods to make their way along the Silk Road; cinnamon was being traded throughout Asia as early as 2000 BCE. Many plants had limited distribution at that time, so specific seasonings became especially prized — nutmeg and cloves, for example, grew only in the Moluccas, a small group of Indonesian islands known at the time as the Spice Islands. Traders often made up dazzling stories about the origins of spices to drive up their intrigue and value. Spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger were so prized that the word “spice” is even derived from the Latin word for “special wares.” Around the turn of the second century CE, Alexandria, Egypt, then under Roman rule, became an important spice-trading hub, and soon the tasty goods spread northward to Greece. Spices reached northern Europe via Genoa and Venice starting around the 11th century.

The Silk Road saw a robust tea trade, too. Camellia sinensis, the plant that grows tea leaves, originated in Southeast Asia (roughly where China, India, and Myanmar meet today) and has been part of Chinese culture since at least as far back as the 10th century BCE. Its first trips on the Silk Road were eastward to Japan and Korea, where the plant began to be cultivated. Over the next several centuries, these East Asian nations developed a culture and ritual around both brewing and drinking tea. Associated pottery, such as teapots, followed tea as it spread to India, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

Glass and Porcelain

If you’ve ever heard porcelain goods referred to as “china” — as in “china dolls” or “fine china” — it’s because porcelain was a distinctly Chinese art for many years. Sculpted from a special clay only available in a certain region of China at the time of the Silk Road, porcelain stood out from other ceramics for both its durability and its translucent white color. The form that became best known in the West was developed during the Yuan dynasty, which spanned the 13th and 14th centuries CE. The classic blue-and-white wares became prized collector’s items, especially in the Islamic world, and inspired similarly styled ceramics in other regions.

Glassware, meanwhile, traveled in the other direction. Glassblowing techniques, particularly with soda-lime glass, developed in the Mediterranean and Middle East starting around 3500 BCE, and examples of that work dating back to the first millennium BCE have been found in East Asia. Roman glass, such as purple glass mosaic bowls, was especially prevalent — Romans loved silk, so they may have swapped the glass for Chinese silk. While Chinese craftspeople produced glass beads in the first few centuries BCE, it was chemically distinct from Western imports. Romans worked with soda-lime glass, the most commonly made type of glass today, which isn’t particularly durable. Imagine keeping it intact for 5,000 miles!

Horses

Horses, originally traded by Mongolian nomadic peoples, were a boon along the Silk Road, enabling traders to expand their networks, even over difficult terrain. They were also, conveniently, both a practical and luxury good, showing both high status and military might, and if you were trading them, they literally transported themselves. Horses were very much in demand in China — they were often traded for silk — and “heavenly horses,” a large breed of horse from a region in Central Asia, were particularly culturally significant. A Han dynasty expedition to acquire these horses even opened up an eastern stretch of the Silk Road between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

Knowlege

The global exchange of ideas was just as impactful as the exchange of physical goods along the Silk Road. Astronomy, used for navigation, spread from India and ancient Iran. The Islamic Golden Age from the eighth century through the 13th century CE marked innovations in mathematics that we take for granted today — including the base 10 number system and decimal fractions — and it drew heavily from Greek and Indian knowledge. Science scholarship in Baghdad and Cairo also led to major advancements in medicine, enabled by knowledge, materials, and traditions from other civilizations. Alchemy was a spiritual precursor to some very real modern science, and led to discoveries in chemistry that eventually spread westward to Europe from scholars in the Middle East and India.

As goods exchanged hands, so did the knowledge of how to use and create them. Some crops, such as grapes, traveled eastward, while others, such as rice, traveled westward, along with information on how to cultivate them. Different metalworking techniques, including types of armor, spread as craftspeople traveled to sell their wares. Bakers from Central Asia opened shops in China and became part of the evolution of Chinese cuisine. And religious traditions, including Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, and local folk traditions, spread and influenced one another as missionaries traveled the vast Silk Road. 

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