Mapping the Silk Road

Just over forty years ago, the World Heritage Convention was conceived to protect sites of 'outstanding universal value' to humanity. Today, almost a thousand sites are World Heritage listed and millions of people travel each year to experience these unique cultural and natural assets. In recent years a team of experts at UNESCO, ICOMOS, the State Parties, and University College London (UCL) have conducted research into the Silk Road's sites and routes as part of the transnational Silk Roads World Heritage Serial Nomination project. Their thematic study explored the problems of mapping the diverse routes and sites of the Silk Road, with their wide geographic and chronological expanse and considered the development of a 'corridor' based approach to identifying areas and sites to be included in the nomination strategy.

Tim Williams, archaeologist at University College London (UCL) and leader of the UCL Ancient Merv Project, has been working on this project for several years. In this illustrated lecture, he will discuss the considerable challenges of mapping the the Silk Roads and their sites.