On January 15, 2003, the first issue of The Silk Road — then a newsletter — was published. In the fifteen years since then, founding editor Daniel C. Waugh has introduced its readers to a vast array of fascinating scholarship from around the world, much of it unlikely to have reached an English readership if not for his untiring labors. Along with many other scholars and amateur enthusiasts, I have long greeted each issue of the journal with eager anticipation, delighting at articles on the reconstruction of Scythian saddles, the “old curiosity shop” of Khotan, or Bactrian inscriptions of the Kushan era, to name just a few of the fascinating pieces to appear under Waugh’s editorship. Alas, those days have come to an end. As of 2018, I have taken over his duties as the new editor of the journal, a transition that also coincides with the cessation of the print version and transfer to the online-only format seen here. Continue reading →