ABSTRACT
The worlds of ancient China and the ancient West were never truly isolated, even if direct contacts between them were rare. Recent archaeological discoveries2 in the desert of Taklamakan in Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) reveal a very old settlement of oases through which the Silk Road will later pass. This area had widespread irrigation in the first millennium BC. It is possible that wheat was brought to the Near East and as far as China by this route in the Neolithic period. The same may also be true for the technology of bronze, as it appeared very suddenly in China about 1600 BC.
