Sino-Iranica: China and Ancient Iran

In this major study - regarded as his most important work - the pioneering anthropologist Berthold Laufer documents the cultural transfers that took place between China and Iran in ancient times. He does so by tracing the history of cultivated plants drugs products minerals metals precious stones and textiles in their migration from Persia to China and from China to Persia. Walnut peach apricot and olive as well as more exotic products like jasmine henna indigo lapis lazuli amber coral gold ebony zinc and myrrh are all included. Few other publications provide so much informative detail about the way human activity has modified the natural world through the movement of plants and other natural resource products from one historical civilisation to another. The work also offers important detail on Iran for periods when Iranian sources are slim. Introduced by Brian Spooner Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania this classic work is once more available for all scholars of Iran China and cultural exchange.