If we go back to the second and third centuries C.E. and to the trade routes of the Silk Roads, we find the Chinese Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire suffering large-scale outbreaks of epidemic disease.1 The most destructive of these diseases were probably smallpox and measles, and epidemics of bubonic plague may also have erupted.2 Although these diseases are the most well-known, there were many others. We have long suspected that disease traveled via the Silk Roads; and now we have the proof. Piers Mitchell, a paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge states, “This is the earliest evidence for the spread of infectious diseases along the Silk Road, and the first to find evidence at an archaeological site along the Silk Road itself.”3 Without the technology and medicinal techniques we practice today, the fatalities that these populations suffered were devastating.
The silk roads were an extensive series of trade routes that linked much of Eurasia and north Africa.4 The Xuanquanzhi relay station was a well known area along the Silk Roads that housed travelers and relayed messages. It was located in the town of Dunhuang, a key stopping point on the Silk Road within the Hexi Corridor.5 Not only were necessities exchanged here, but so were religions, cultures, and the many diseases. Through a study in China conducted by Doctors Hui-Yuan Yeh, Ruillin Mao, Hui Wang, Wuyun Qi, and Piers D. Mitchell, they were able to prove that Chinese liver fluke, roundworm, whipworm, and tapeworm were spread along the Silk Roads.6
The study took place in Gansu Province, located in north-west China, which contains the Hexi Corridor.7 This corridor formed a section of the Silk Road, an ancient network of thoroughfares extending 4000 miles.8
Hygiene sticks were excavated from the latrines at the Xuanquanzhi site in 1992. These sticks were made of wood or bamboo wrapped with cloth, to be used as personal hygiene sticks for wiping.9 Out of the many sticks that were collected, seven of them had remnants of fecal matter still attached. The samples were then mixed with distilled water and trisodium phosphate in order for the parasites to be isolated. The most significant finding was the Chinese liver fluke, as it could not have been endemic at Dunhuang, as the parasite requires a wet marshy environment for its life cycle.10 Due to the discovery of this specific parasite, it proves the argument that the Silk Roads were partly to blame for the mass distribution of diverse diseases. Although there are various ways for diseases to be distributed all over the world, travelers along the Silk Roads provided an easy way for some of the most deadly diseases to travel great distances to devastate two of the largest empires of the ancient world: the Chinese Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire.
- Jerry H. Bentley, Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History: Volume 1: To 1500, Fourth Edition, vol. 1 (New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 166. ↵
- Bentley, Ziegler, and Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History, 166. ↵
- Charles Q. Choi, “Silk Road Gave Infectious Disease a Route, Ancient Poop Shows,” Live Science, July 21, 2016, accessed October 25, 2016, http://www.livescience.com/55505-silk-road-human-feces-infectious-disease.html. ↵
- Bentley, Ziegler, and Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History, 161. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 759. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 758. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 759. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 759. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 759. ↵
- Hui-Yuan Yeh et al., “Early Evidence for Travel with Infectious Diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal Parasites from 2000 Year-Old Personal Hygiene Sticks in a Latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9 (October 2016): 761. ↵
In high school, I remember hearing about the Silk Road, but I had never heard of the many diseases that were transferred from place to place because of it. I find it astonishing how much impact it had on the Chinese Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire. I find it bizarre how they used sticks for personal hygiene and was surprised to see all the information was able to be drawn out of sticks. Overall, this article was informative since it explores the side of the Silk Road that not many people know about.
Who would have thought that so many varieties of diseases plagued powerful empires because of their own citizens and allies. I still can’t believe that because of a wonderful concept like trade would be the killer that took so many lives back in the day. Of course now-a-days people know how to handle diseases but they can grow and change or new ones can be created. This is a dangerous world we live in and we will always need to be careful.
Its always interesting reading about how people dealt with diseases throughout history. Because disease is quite literally an invisible killer, one can only imagine what deaths would have been attributed to in a time when there was no knowledge of viruses, bacteria, and infection. We are lucky to have the knowledge to be able to look back and know what it was that took so many lives.
This is a brief but informative article about a subject I never heard about. It’s crazy to think we study the diseases from so long ago from samples fecal matter from that time. This is a great find in relation to the spread of disease and showing reasons for loss of so many people during that time period. Many times throughout history the mixing of different populations brought great disease epidemics in those communities and population during growth. Sad to see that the advances in trade brought with it such destruction of life.
Disease has been known to spread west into Europe from Asia and Euasia, but I hadn’t known the silk road was such a big factor in that spread.. I seems obvious, as there were people that had never been exposed to certain diseases going along a heavily populated road with strangers. However, the thing that I found most interesting about this article is that these people, nearly 2000 years ago, used sticks as toilet paper, and called them “hygiene sticks.”
I never thought about disease so much whenever the topic of the Silk Roads came up. I only ever really thought about trade and the profit that came along with it. The most striking detail would have had to be regarding the hygiene stick. The hygiene stick ironically sounds like the most unsanitary thing I’ve ever heard of. The article was very informative about the hard truth of the Silk Roads and some of the struggles that came with the trading lifestyle.
I never really thought about how diseases got around back in those days. I forgot exactly how the silk road really connected the world. I did think the way the scientists tested for the apparent disease was disgusting, but I guess sometimes you got to do what you got to do. What would be interesting would be to see how diseases were different back then compared to now. But then again I’m glad I didn’t live back then, clearly they didn’t exactly keep up with their hygiene like people do today.
When I took world history in high school, I learned about the Silk Roads being trade routes for goods as well as diseases due to the interactions of people across the continent that were previously not connected. However, I never considered that there was no proof of this because I always thought that it did not need to be explained; people who had previously not interacted were now able to do so and disease was spread through breathing and touching. On the other hand, I find the research that this article mentions to be very interesting because it turns our assumptions into facts, and I think that it is remarkable that usable data could be found after thousands of years have passed.
As an individual that has never heard of this sickness or issue before, I found this article to be gripping in touching on such a non-known topic. it’s even more baffling that the professionals were able to still have evidence of fecal matter and the parasites that used to live inside.I also find it a little ironic that the silk road which was meant to distribute and support growing economy, was plagued with sickness and was a strong cause of the growth of various diseases in ancient times.
I have heard of the Silk Road and the many trade advancements it brought about, but learning about the death and disease it also transferred was truly an eye-opening experience. Along with religions, cultures, and goods, it is scary to think that such an advancement in society also brought about death and sickness. It is also interesting to hear that there was no proof of this event until after 1992. To think that this trade route could affect huge empires like the Chinese and Romans truly makes you think about the power hidden in diseases and unhygienic practices.