This silkworm is made of copper and was probably gilt in the past. The Silk Road takes its name from the silk that was long the most coveted good that travelled it, a good that was also used as currency. Silk was enormously valuable relative to its weight, and was thus worthwhile to transport and trade.
In China, silk fabric has been produced for at least 5,000 years. The knowledge of how to extract silk from the cocoons of silkworms has probably existed even longer. There are several variants of wild silkworms around the world, but the one raised in China is the domesticated silkmoth Bombyx mori. It is blind and flightless and dies shortly after laying its eggs. The silkworm’s cocoon is made of a single long thread of silk that may be 300–900 metres long.
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