Findings and research related to the theory that other roads linked China and the Western world had existed prior to the Silk Road began appearing in 2006.

Since then, archaeologists have unearthed and salvaged a stretch of cemetery from the Warring States Period (about 475-221 BC) in Gansu's Tianshui City. The burial goods included animal-print gold leaf that came from what is known today as the Russian republics of Altai and Tuva.

Of the objects found, glass cups and the tradition of using goldware and silverware also originated in the West.

Wang Hui, director of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology, confirmed that roads existed that facilitated Chinese and Western cultural exchanges in 2000 BC. "Although it was not dominated by the silk trade then."

Zheng Binglin, a professor at the Institute of Dunhuang Studies of Lanzhou University, said that both archaeological and historical documents can prove the existence of roads that made cultural exchanges possible prior to Zhang Qian's missions.

A prominent book in the Pre-Qin Dynasty (2100-221 BC), "Legends of Mountains and Seas," included references to Lop Nor, a lake in present-day Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Dunhuang, home of the Mogao Grottoes. It said three rivers in the Dunhuang territory flowed west and fed into Lop Nor.

"This indicates that people in the Central Plain had recognized the Lop Nor and Dunhuang prior to the Qin Dynasty," Zheng said.

The beginning and end points of the more ancient roads have yet to be located, and the exact length and route also remain unclear.

However, Gao Qi'an, director of the Dunhuang Business Culture Research Institute affiliated to Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, acknowledged that more and more evidence will be discovered to prove the existence of pre-Silk Road passages that boosted East-West cultural exchanges.

"Ancient roads linking China and the Western world may not have been deliberately constructed by humans," Gao said, "but born of the prosperous cultural activities among different nationalities in different regions."

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