Tracing the influences of cultures

The mutual influences among different cultures are sometimes preserved in inconspicuous details, if not told or paid great attention to.

In the Islamabad Museum in Pakistan sits a red sandstone quern dated between the second century BC and the second century AD. It holds flower and leaf patterns on its surface and a carved animal motif on one side of its pedestal.

"You think it's a fish, but take a closer, longer look. It has a dragon head," says Wang Zhiqiang, a scholar at the National Museum of China, where the quern is on display. "According to our counterparts in Islamabad, it incorporates the image of the Chinese dragon, which was introduced via the ancient Silk Road."