Formosa and the Silk Road: A Mysterious Bronze Object from Taiwan

Hoppál, Krisztina (2022) Formosa and the Silk Road: A Mysterious Bronze Object from Taiwan. JOURNAL OF TAIWAN ARCHAEOLOGY, 1. pp. 117-135.

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Abstract

In 1991 during the excavations of the famous Shihsanhang site SOÌúW (hereafter SSH), an extraordinary bronze plaque of non-local origin was uncovered. The artefact itself is a large and massive casted strap-end (chawei i~) with stylized relief of a standing camel and its rider. The depiction of both the camel and rider suggests a close connection to mediator cultures operating along the Silk Roads, the complex networks of land and maritime routes across Eurasia. It is important to note that bronze, especially decorated bronze items, are relatively rare at SSH and further mounted belts were clearly alien from the costume repertoire of SSH culture. In this regard, several questions might be raised. How and when this strap-end arrived to Taiwan? Where was it made? How can its peculiar iconography be detected in visual arts of the various Silk Road cultures? How could such alien material be received by the local community? Despite the fact that giving a precise date to the artefact or finding its place of origin is still a very problematic matter, it is obvious that it was a non-local item, thus reflects to the complex networks of the SSH people and connects Taiwan with several nodes of the Silk Roads.

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