Sogdian

Script of the Sogdian merchants who traversed the Silk Road (4th century BC–10th century AD). The common lingua franca of Central Asian trade, with inscriptions found in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Turfan. Sogdian script is the starting point of Eurasia's longest script lineage: Sogdian → Uyghur → Mongolian → Manchu. Thousands of Sogdian manuscripts preserved at Turfan's document repository in Xinjiang are vivid records of Silk Road religion, trade, and diplomacy.