The Silk Road was an exceptional landmark of continental-scale exchanges throughout human history, spanning thousands of years across the vast landscapes of the Gobi Desert, oases, mountains, basins, forests, and steppes in Eurasia. The mechanisms of early human migrations in the paleolithic periods, agricultural dispersion in the neolithic periods, and civilization development along the Silk Road have attracted high interest from both social and natural scientists.
In 2018, the Ministry of Science and Technology in China (MOST) funded a key project to study the impacts of climate and hydrology changes on the Silk Road Civilization. Inspired by the achievements of this project, Prof. Fahu Chen at Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences launched an ANSO (Alliance of International Science Organizations) association titled Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk Road Civilization Development (ATES) in 2019 to promote interdisciplinary studies along the Silk Road regions and beyond.
The launching of ATES establishes an international platform to exchange multi-discipline knowledge and the latest research achievements on the ancient Silk Road, including exchanges of culture, science and technology across the region perceptions of climate change and socio-economic development in different historical periods along the Silk Road, and effects of environmental changes on the rise and fall of the Silk Road civilization.
Prof. Fahu Chen, Chair of ATES (CAS member, TWAS member)
