eLibrary: Caravanserai along the Silk Road (0-1500)

Merchants and travellers along the Silk Road faced many dangers, but for stretches of the journey they could rely on caravanserais. Situated at regular intervals along the most travelled routes, these buildings offered overnight shelter and refreshment for both man and beast. Travelling East to West, from the centre of China to the shores of the Mediterranean, the exhibition allows visitors to explore ten of these ancient monuments – the physical infrastructure of the trade and exchange that characterized the ancient ‘Silk Road'.

NOTE:

Some of these links come from Academia.edu and Researchgate.net. These require a free one-time registration.

To research further yourselves, you may consider registering with Jstore.org which gives limited but free monthly access to its collections.

Articles

Acun, V., Yilmazer, S. and Orhan, C., 2018, May. ‘Indoor soundscape of historical spaces: the case of Çengelhan Caravanserai’, In Euronoise2018, 11th European Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece. [pdf]

Andaroodi, E. and Andres, F., 2018. ‘Advanced Classification of Architectural Heritage: A Corpus of Desert on Rout Caravanserais’ International Journal of Architectural Heritage. [pdf]

Basouli, M. and Derakhsh, S., 2021. ‘An investigating of the functions of Iranian caravanserais with a landscape approach’, MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape, 13(54), pp.28-37. [pdf]

Bar-Oz, e.a. 2022. ‘Caravanserai middens on desert roads: a new perspective on the Nabataean–Roman trade network across the Negev’, Antiquity, 96(387), pp.592-610. ‘ [pdf]

Bryce, D., O’Gorman, K.D. and Baxter, I.W., 2013. ‘Commerce, empire and faith in Safavid Iran: the caravanserai of Isfahan, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(2), pp.204-226. [pdf]

Buchanan, M. ‘Following the Afghan Silk Road with satellites’, 2018 [website]

Campbell, J.L., 2011. Architecture and identity: the occupation, use, and reuse of Mughal Caravanserais PhD Thesis University of Toronto).  [pdf]

Dabanlı, O. and Şimşek, M., ‘Ancient Witnesses of the Silk Road: The Cultural Tourism Potential of Historical Caravanserais in Anatolia’, Scientific Culture, 9, 1, 2023, 89-106 [pdf]

Dar, S.R., 2000. ‘Caravanserais along the grand trunk road in Pakistan’, The silk roads: highways of culture and commerce. Paris: UNESCO Publishing/Berghann Books. [pdf]

Darendeli, T. and Binan, C.Ş., 2021. ‘Seljuks inherit to Anatolia; caravanserais’, Athens Journal of Architecture, 7, pp.137-172. [pdf]

Danaeinia, A. ‘Typology Architecture of the Stone Caravanserais of the Seljuk Period in Qom Province’, 2017 [Academia]

Deljavan, N. and Çinar, K., 2023. ‘Comparison of Anatolian and Persian Caravanserais in the Seljuk Period’, Karatay Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, (11), pp.27-43.  [Academia]

Durand, C., Al-Muheisen, Z., Piraud-Fournet, P. and Tholbecq, L., 2018. ‘A public Bath-House, a caravanserai and a luxurious villa in Khirbat ADH-DHARĪḤ (ṬAFĪLAH, Jordan): report on the 2013 excavation season.’, Ḥawliyyaẗ dāʹiraẗ al-āṯār al-’āmmaẗ= Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, pp.607-622. [pdf]

Eahr, J. “Caravanserai, Trade Routes, and Dark Mothers” (2016). Re-Genesis Encyclopedia. Paper 2. [pdf]

Ergashev, J. ‘Caravanserais and their importance on caravan routes’, 2023 [pdf]

Ertepınar Kaymakcı, P., 2005. Geoarchaelogical investigation of central anatolian caravanserais using gis (Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University). [pdf download]

Ficarelli, L., 2014. ‘Technique and Form of the Land: The Systems and the Morphologies of Turkish Caravanserais. The Design of the Landscape, the Caravan Routes, the Silk Road, the Caravanserais’, Proceedings of the 2 nd ICAUD International Conference in Architecture and Urban Design Epoka University, Tirana, Albania, 08-10 May 2014 [pdf]

Gürani, F.Y. and Canbolat, T.Ö., 2012, July. ‘Aksaray Sultan han Caravanserai: a Study of Cultural Interactions and Sustainability Along the Silk Road’, In Prosiding 2nd International Conference Archi-Cultural Translations through the Silk Road, Mukogawa Women’s University. Nishinomiya, Japan (pp. 14-16). [pdf]

Hamrahi, H. and Manshad, Z.K.N., 2017. ‘Comparison of caravanserais of Azerbaijan and Isfahan based on Ghanli Bolagh Caravanserai in Ardabil and Madar Shah Caravanserai in Isfahan’, American Journal of Art and Design, 2(1), pp.30-37. [pdf download]

Hawari, M. ‘Khan al-Lubban: a Caravansarai on the Damascus-Jerusalem Road’, Lavant, 33, 2001, 7-21 [Academia]

Itma, M., 2011. ‘Architectural characteristics of the Islamic Caravanserais case study: Khanalwakalah in the City of Nablus’. [pdf]

Karataş, L., Dal, M., Alptekin, A. and Yakar, M., 2023. ‘Architectural documentation with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data: Case study of Lutfu Pasa caravanserai (Mathius Caravanserai), Izmir’, Intercontinental Geoinformation Days, 6, pp.143-147. [pdf download]

Kiani, M.Y., The Iranian Caravansarais during the Safavid Period, PhD Thesis, SOAS, 1970, 356pp [pdf]

Korjenkov, A.M.,e.a.  2009. ‘A macroseismic study of the Taldy-Sai caravanserai in the Kara-Bura River valley (Talas basin, Kyrgyzstan)’, Russian Geology and Geophysics, 50(1), pp.63-69. [pdf]

Kutlu, M., 2009. Seljuk Caravanserais in the Vicinity of Denizli: Han-Abad (Çardakhan) and Akhan (MA Thesis PhD, Bilkent Universitesi (Turkey)). [pdf]

Mansouri, A., Edgü, E. and Şalgamcıoğlu, M.E., Historic Persian caravanserais. [pdf]

Muradov, R.G. ‘Dayahatyn, caravanserai of the Seljuqid period in Turkmenistan’, 2016 [Academia]

National Geographic, Where Worlds and Ideas Connect: The Caravanserai [website]

Önge, M, Restoration of Zazadin Han a 13th Century Seljukid Caravanserai near Konya, PhD Thesis, METU, 2004. 209pp [pdf download]

Önge, M., 2007. “Caravanserais as symbols of power in Seljuk Anatolia’, Politica, 306(21), pp.49-69. [pdf]

Palombini, A. and Tavernari, C., ‘On Their Way Home… A Network Analysis of Medieval Caravanserai Distribution in the Syrian Region, According to an 1D Approach’, CAA2015, p.637. [pdf]

Polvonov, J., ‘Caravanserais On The Great Silk Road And Their Archeological Site’, The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations, 5, 2021, 80-87 [pdf download]

Semiz, N., 2013, June. ‘A Caravanserai from 16th century in Sivas” Behram Pasha Han”. International Conference on Architecture and Urban Design. [pdf]

Sepidnameh, H. and Salehi Kakhki, A., 2021. ‘Sassanid-Islamic Caravanserais of Southwest Iran: A Case Study (Mohammad Abad Caravanserai in Kohgiluyeh Region)’, International Journal of Iranian-Islamic Studies, 11(2), pp.119-149. [pdf]

Sheyko, K.A., e.a. ‘Archaeological Research at the Qarshovul Tepa Site, Uzbekistan’, in C. Baumer and M. Nóvak (eds) Urban Cultures of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Karakhanids, 2016, 262-282. [pdf]

Tate, R.P. The Seljuk Caravanserais of Anatolia: A GIScience and Landscape Archaeology Study, NELC Thesis proposal, 2009, 19pp [pdf]

Tavernari, C., 2012, April. ‘From the caravanserai to the road: Proposal for a preliminary reconstruction of the Syrian road networks during the Middle Ages’, In Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (Vol. 2, pp. 711-727). [pdf]

Thareani-Sussely, Y., 2007. ‘Ancient caravanserais: an archaeological view from ‘Aroer’, Levant, 39(1), pp.123-141. [pdf]

Turkishan.org (Katherine Branning) The Seljuk Han of Anatolia detailed descriptions [website]

UNESCO, Caravanserais: cross-roads of commerce and culture along the Silk Roads [website]

Wertmann, P., ‘Silk Road fashion.The City a Gate the Pass and a Road- Four components to make Luoyang the Capital of the Silk Roads between 1^st and 7^th centuries AD’, iDAIPublications, 2019 [pdf download]

Williams, T., e.a. ‘Semi-fortified Palatial Complexes in Central Asia: New Work at the Great Kyz Kala.Merv, Turkmanistan’ Archeaology International, 21,1, XXXX, 153-169 [Academia]

Yanik, G., e.a. 2012. ‘The characterization of medieval ceramics excavated from the Eğirdir Caravanserai (Turkey)’, Ceramics–Silikáty, 56(3), pp.261-268. [pdf]

Yavuz, A.T., 1997. ‘The concepts that shape Anatolian Seljuq caravanserais’, Muqarnas, 14, 1997, 80-95. [Jstore]

Zilivinskaia, E.D. ‘Caravanserais in the Golden Horde’, Silk Road Journal, 15, 2017, 13-31 [pdf]

Videos

Tash Rabat an ancient inn on the Silk Road in Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Nomad) 5 minutes

Top 10 Facts about the Silk Road and its Caravansaries (Channel Persia) 9 minutes