The EXARC Show

Chris Aslan originally moved to Uzbekistan in the 1990s to write a tourist guide. Yet in his time there he worked with UNESCO to revive the dying art of silk carpet weaving, opening a workshop that is still running today. Host Jess Shaw explores with Chris his experiences of reviving an ancient craft, from experimenting with natural dyes to studying 15th century manuscripts to rediscover lost carpet designs. Chris then went on to found other craft workshops, and continues to revisit Central Asia, a place that has captured his heart. 

Chris is a writer, running tours and giving lectures about his varied experiences in Central Asia. He established an UNESCO workshop reviving silk carpet making in Khiva, Uzbekistan and wrote a book about his experiences called ‘A Carpet Ride to Khiva’. He has since written Únravelling the Silk Road’ about his later experiences working with Kyrgys Yak herders and working in the world's largest walnut forest, also in Kyrgyzstan

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In this episode of the EXARC Show, Matilda Siebrecht presents the latest issue of the EXARC Journal with an episode of EXARC Extracts. Listen in to hear a summary of the articles, which are all available to read open-access through the EXARC Journal website!

• For rough transcripts head over to https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/exarc/75

• The EXARC Journal Issue 2026-3

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• EXARC on Instagram

• APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
• APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
• APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
• APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
• APN Shop

• Motion

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