Xi'an-based international archaeological research center was unveiled

General Assembly of Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia

On the morning of April 25, the General Assembly of Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was held in Xi'an, and the "Collaborative Research Centre for Archaeology of the Silk Roads" with Northwest University as the implementing unit was officially unveiled at the general assembly.

"Collaborative Research Centre for Archaeology of the Silk Roads" was officially unveiled

The centre is one of the achievements of the second China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 2021. The founding of the centre was proposed by China and jointly conducted by the Central Asian Countries. The centre carries out silk road archaeological cooperation, heritage protection, cultural exchanges and talent training, targeting Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and other regions. It builds an open and shared platform for archaeological cooperation research and humanistic exchanges between China and countries along the Silk Road.

Up to now, Northwestern University has signed agreements with 17 universities and research institutions in 8 countries and regions to jointly build the centre, and 26 experts and scholars in the field of archaeology from 9 countries were employed as members of the centre's academic committee.

While the centre was unveiled, more than 4,000 kilometers away from Xi'an in Central Asia, a team of experts from Northwestern University, Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology and Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology was working with foreign archaeologists and carrying out research on the protection of large archaeological sites in Uzbekistan, archaeological investigation, excavation and sorting of cultural relics, joint multidisciplinary investigation, investigation of archaeological projects in Turkmenistan and construction of the "Belt and Road" international joint laboratory. The overseas archaeological and cultural heritage protection work in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries, as well as in Kazakhstan, Nepal, Myanmar, Iran and Mongolia will also be resumed or started during the year.

Based on the "Collaborative Research Centre for Archaeology of the Silk Roads", Northwest University will continue to deepen the research cooperation and cultural exchange with universities and research institutions in countries along the Silk Road, and contribute to promoting Silk Road archaeology and cultural heritage protection.