Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk-Road Civilization Development
Authors: Ai Likun , Hou Juzhi , Xie Haichao , Yu Yanbo , Chen Fahu 
Published: February 2023

Spanning more than 6,400 kilometers across Eurasia, the Silk Road played a key role in facilitating exchanges in economy, culture, politics, and religions between East and West. The ancient Silk Road was one of the most important passages for trans-Eurasia exchange and human migrations, which could be traced back to 5000-4000 years before present. To deepen understanding of the effects of environmental changes in shaping the long-term trans-Eurasia exchanges and Silk Road civilization, the Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk-Road Civilization Development (ATES) was launched by a group of scientists with background of climate, hydrology, environment, archaeology in 2019. There are about 118 scientists from 10 countries that with different background have joined the ATES so far. ATES now has a President, and three coordinators in the secretariat, and all the alliance members are allocated to the 5 Working Groups (WG) based on their background and research interests. The main scientific issues for the ATES are: 1) Routes and driving forces of ancient human migrations across Eurasia in the Paleolithic; 2) Relationship between the food globalization, development of agro-pastoralism in Eurasia and human migration in the Neolithic; 3) Mechanisms of establishment, shift and demise of routes and key towns along the ancient Silk Road; 4) Effects of environmental changes on the rise and fall of the Silk Road civilization as to the trans-Eurasia exchanges in terms of economy, technology and culture. What does it tell us about the future of ongoing climate change? ATES aims to set an international platform to exchange multi-discipline knowledge and the latest research achievement on the ancient Silk Road, including exchanges of culture, science, and technology along the roads, 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.ATES welcomes institutes and scientists worldwide to initiate and launch relevant research programs and projects with the ATES community. By establishing several joint research and education centers with partners, ATES facilitates and supports field observations, research, and capacity building. Training of Young Scientists is one of the main tasks for ATES capacity building, which includes the training workshops and field learnings organized by ATES and its partners. In order to strengthen the interaction of the ATES community, and to enhance the exchange of new achievements and insights of the interdisciplinary study on the evolution of trans-Eurasia exchanges and Silk Road civilization, the ATES Silk Road Civilization Forum invites a world-renowned scientist to give a special lecture on the focused topic every 3 months. ATES will organize parallel sessions and side meetings in the big events such as AGU, EGU, Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, UNCBD, ANSO conference, et al. ATES partners and other institutes are welcome to join in organizing the above meetings.