西方早期丝绸的发现与中西文化交流

Discovery of Ancient Silk and Sino-Western Cultural Communication

丝绸是古代中国的主要外销产品，也是古代东西方文化交流的象征。近年来，国外发现了一些早期丝绸，为研究中西文化交流提供了实物依据。古代地中海地区曾利用野蚕丝进行过纺织，西方文献所说的“科斯丝绸”就是指这种野蚕丝，而不是指中国丝绸。至少在公元前６世纪，中国丝绸已经传到了欧洲，并且很可能是沿着草原通道西传的。

As the most important Chinese exports in the ancient times, silk became a symbol of cultural communication between Chi-na and the Western world. The recent archeological discovery of ancient silk in the West has provided us with valuable evidences for the historical studies of Sino - Western cultural communication. The Coean silk, as is recorded in Western literature, was not pro-duced in China but it was made of undomesticated silk worms in the ancient Mediterranean areas Chinese silk was introduced to Eu-rope early in the sixth century BC via the possible route through the Eurasian steppes.