I am reading a book called the celts by Frank Delaney and he opens the first chapter talking about a burial site that was found. On the body dated to 550bc was silk robes from China. This seems very earlier for silk in Europe if not at least early enough that it was more information is it not?
The earliest known fragments of silk in China date to 3630 BC. This silk might possibly have been brought East to India during the Vedic period (1700-500 BC), but it also could have been wild silks which we know India was producing later. Threads of wild silk have also been found in Egypt c. 1070 BC as well as among the Hallstatt graves of 600-500 BC in Austria. In Kerameikos, Greece there are fragments dating to the 5th century BC that are the Bombyx mori silk that comes from the Chinese silk worms we are still familiar with today. Other samples from around the time are found in Kazakhstan. The Persian Empire's "Royal Road" was one of the sources for silk, extending into the Aegean Sea. Silk was not a major cargo at that point, but there is evidence of it already circulating widely through Europe as of the 5th century BC. The silk trade from China really exploded in the First century BC with what is called the "Silk Road" today.