Sir Marc Aurel Stein,KCIE, FRAS, FBA[1](Hungarian:Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born Britisharchaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor atIndian universities.
Stein was also an ethnographer, geographer, linguist and surveyor. His collection of books and manuscripts bought fromDunhuang caves is important for the study of the history ofCentral Asia and the art and literature ofBuddhism. He wrote several volumes on his expeditions and discoveries which includeAncient Khotan,Serindia andInnermost Asia.
Stein was born to Náthán Stein and Anna Hirschler, a Jewish couple residing inBudapest in theKingdom of Hungary,Austrian Empire. His parents and his sister retained their Jewish faith but Stein and his brother, Ernst Eduard, were baptised asLutherans. At home the family spoke German andHungarian,[2] Stein graduated from a secondary school in Budapest before going on for advanced study at Universities ofVienna,Leipzig andTübingen. He graduated inSanskrit andPersian and received his PhD from Tübingen in 1883.[3]
In 1884, he went to England to study oriental languages and archaeology. In 1886, Stein met the Indologist and philologistRudolf Hoernlé in Vienna at a conference ofOrientalists, learning about an ancient mathematical manuscript discovered in Bakhshali (Peshawar).[4] In 1887 Stein went to India, where he joined theUniversity of the Punjab as Registrar. Later, between 1888 and 1899, he was the Principal ofOriental College, Lahore.[5] During this time, under his supervision Raghunath Temple Sanskrit Manuscript Library at Jammu was established which treasures 5000 rare manuscripts.[6]
Stein was influenced bySven Hedin's 1898 workThrough Asia. In June 1898, he sought the help of Hoernle and a collaboration to find and study Central Asian antiquities. Hoernle was enthusiastic as he had already deciphered theBower Manuscript andWeber Manuscript by then, found these to be respectively the oldest known birch bark and paper manuscripts of ancient India at the time, had received more artefacts and manuscripts but was concerned about the circumstances of their discovery and their authenticity. He recommended that Stein prepare an expedition proposal and submit it to the Governments of Punjab and India.[4] Stein sent a draft proposal to Hoernle within a month. Hoernle discussed it with Lt Governor of Punjab (British India), who expressed enthusiasm. Stein then submitted a full proposal to explore, map and study the antiquities of Central Asia as per the recommendations of Hoernle, who personally petitioned both the Government of Punjab and Government of India, lobbying for a quick approval. Within weeks, Stein's proposal was informally approved. In January 1899, Stein received the formal approval and funds for his first expedition.[4] Stein thereafter received approval and support for additional expeditions toChinese Turkestan, other parts of Tibet and Central Asia where the Russians and Germans were already taking interest. He made his famous expeditions with the financial support of Punjab government and the British India government.[4]
Photograph of Aurel Stein, with his dog and research team, in theTarim Basin
Stein made four major expeditions toCentral Asia—in 1900–1901, 1906–1908, 1913–1916 and 1930.[7] He brought to light the hidden treasure of a great civilization which by then was practically lost to the world. One of his significant finds during his first journey during 1900–1901 was theTaklamakan Desert oasis ofDandan Oilik where he was able to uncover a number of relics. During his third expedition in 1913–1916, he excavated atKhara-Khoto.[8] Later he explored in thePamirs, seeking the site of the now-lostStone Tower which the 2nd century polymathClaudius Ptolemy had noted as the half-way mark of theSilk Road in his famous treatiseGeography.[9]
Map of Taklamakan from Stein'sSerindia 1921, vol. V.Letter from Aurel Stein toRudolf Hoernle from Kashgar. Dated 25 May 1901.
TheBritish Library's Stein collection of Chinese, Tibetan and Tangut manuscripts, Prakrit wooden tablets, and documents inKhotanese,Uyghur,Sogdian and Eastern Turkic is the result of his travels through central Asia during the 1920s and 1930s. Stein discovered manuscripts in the previously lostTocharian languages of theTarim Basin atMiran and other oasis towns, and recorded numerous archaeological sites, especially inIran andBalochistan.
When Stein visitedKhotan he was able to render in Persian a portion of theShahnama after he came across a local reading the Shahnama inTurki.[10]
During 1901, Stein was responsible for exposing forgeries ofIslam Akhun, as well as establishing the details and the authenticity of manuscripts that had been discovered before 1896 in northwest China.[4]
Stein's greatest discovery was made at theMogao Caves, also known as "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas", nearDunhuang in 1907. It was there that he discovered a printed copy of theDiamond Sutra which is the world's oldest printed text, dating to AD 868, along with 40,000 other scrolls (all removed by gradually winning the confidence and bribing theTaoist caretaker).[11] He took 24 cases of manuscripts and 4 cases of paintings, decorated textiles (such as theMiraculous Image of Liangzhou) and relics. He was knighted for his efforts, but Chinese nationalists dubbed him a burglar and staged protests against him, although most others have seen his actions as at least advancing scholarship.[12][13] His discovery inspired other French, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese treasure hunters and explorers who also took their toll on the collection.[14] Aurel Stein discovered 5 letters written in Sogdian known as the "Ancient Letters" in an abandoned watchtower near Dunhuang in 1907, dating to the end of the Western Jin dynasty.[15]
During his expedition of 1906–1908 while surveying south of theJohnson Line in theKunlun Mountains, Stein suffered frostbite and lost several toes on his right foot.
When he was resting from his extended journeys into Central Asia, he spent most of his time living in a tent in the alpine meadow calledMohand Marg which lies at the mouth atop theSind Valley. Years earlier, working from this idyllic spot he translatedRajatarangini fromSanskrit into English, which had then been published in 1900.[16][17] A memorial stone was erected in Mohand Marg on 14 September 2017 where Stein used to pitch his tent.[18]
The fourth expedition to Central Asia, however, ended in failure. Stein did not publish any account, but others have written of the frustrations and rivalries between British and American interests in China, between Harvard'sFogg Museum and the British Museum, and finally, betweenPaul J. Sachs andLangdon Warner, the two Harvard sponsors of the expedition.[19]
Between 1940 and 1943, Aurel Stein undertook 2 expeditions to along theGhaggar-Hakra River to find physical evidence of theSaraswati River described in theRig Veda. While he didn't definitively establish the region's chronological archaeological sequence, his work significantly advanced Indian archaeology. Surveying fromHanumangarh toBahawalpur, he identified approximately 100 prehistoric and historical sites, conducting exploratory excavations at some. His observations on the geographical spread of these sites proved valuable to later researchers, includingAmalananda Ghosh (3 March 1910 – 1981) and Katy Dalal. Notably, he documented sites such asMunda,Bhadrakali Temple, andDerwar.[20]
Photograph of Aurel Stein's grave marker in theSherpur Cantonment, Kabul
Stein was a lifelong bachelor, but was always accompanied by a dog named "Dash" (of which there were seven).[21][22] He became aBritish citizen in 1904.[23] He died inKabul on 26 October 1943 and is buried there in theSherpur Cantonment.[24]
Stein, as well as his rivalsSven Hedin, SirFrancis Younghusband andNikolai Przhevalsky, were active players in the British-Russian struggle for influence in Central Asia, the so-calledGreat Game. Their explorations were supported by the British and Russian Empires as they filled in the remaining "blank spots" on the maps, providing valuable information and creating "spheres of influence" for archaeological exploration as they did for political influence.[25]
Fragment of carpet discovered by Aurel Stein in a refuse pit atLoulan,Xinjiang, and attributed to 3rd–4th century
1896. "Notes on the Ancient Topography of the Pīr Pantsāl Route."Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LXIV, Part I, No. 4, 1895. Calcutta 1896.
1896.Notes on Ou-k'ong's account of Kaçmir. Wien: Gerold, 1896. Published in both English and German in Vienna.
1898.Detailed Report on an Archaeological Tour with the Buner Field Force, Lahore, Punjab Government Press.
1900.Kalhaṇa'sRājataraṅgiṇī – A Chronicle of the Kings ofKaśmīr, 2 vols. London, A. Constable & Co. Ltd. Reprint, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1979.
1918. "Routes from the Panjab to Turkestan and China Recorded by William Finch (1611)."The Geographical Journal, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Mar., 1918), pp. 172–175.
1929.On Alexander's Track to the Indus: Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India. London, Macmillan & Co. Reprint: New York, Benjamin Blom, 1972.
1932On Ancient Central Asian Tracks: Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and Northwestern China. Reprinted with Introduction byJeannette Mirsky. Book Faith India, Delhi. 1999.
1940Old Routes of Western Iran: Narrative of an Archaeological Journey Carried out and Recorded, MacMillan and co., limited. St. Martin's Street, London.
1944. "Archaeological Notes from the Hindukush Region".J.R.A.S., pp. 1–24 + fold-out.
A more detailed list of Stein's publications is available inHandbook to the Stein Collections in the UK,[8] pp. 49–61.
^Deuel, Leo. 1970.Testaments of Time, p. 459. Baltimore, Pelican Books. Orig. publ. Knopf, NY, 1965;"Collecting Aurel Stein"Archived 3 June 2016 at theWayback Machine,The Caxtonian Vol. XIX, No. 2, November 2011.
Sims-Williams, N. (15 December 1985)."Ancient Letters".Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. II. pp. 7–9.Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved19 April 2023.
Keramidas, Kimon."Sogdian Ancient Letter II".NYU. Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project. Archived fromthe original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved19 April 2023.
Susan Whitfield, ed. (2004). "Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 3. Reproduced".The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. p. 248.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas."Ancient Letters".THE SOGDIANS Influencers on the Silk Roads. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.Archived from the original on 19 October 2023.
Livšic, Vladimir A. (2009)."Sogdian "Ancient Letters" (II, IV, V)". In Orlov, Andrei; Lourie, Basil (eds.).Symbola Caelestis: Le symbolisme liturgique et paraliturgique dans le monde chrétien. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 344–352.ISBN9781463222543.Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 July 2024 – via Brill.
^Brysac, Shareen Blair (November–December 1997)."Last of the "Foreign Devils"".Archaeology.50 (6).Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved6 June 2014.
^"Gold Medal Recipients"(PDF).Medals and Awards. Royal Geographical Society. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved26 November 2014.
Deuel, Leo. 1965.Testaments of Time; the Search for Lost Manuscripts and Records. Knopf, New York, 1965. paperback reprint: Pelican, Baltimore, 1970.
Falconer, John et al. 2002.Catalogue of the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest, LHAS and British Museum.ISBN963-7451-11-0.
Falconer, John et al. 2007. "Supplement to the Catalogue of the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest, LHAS.ISBN978-963-508-545-3.
Hansen, Valerie. 2012.The Silk Road: A New History, Oxford University PressISBN978-0195159318.
Kelecsényi, Ágnes, 2004. "Stein Aurél (1862–1943) És a Magyar Tudomány Kapcsolatok a Magyar Tudományos Akadémiával – Stein-gyűjtemények a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtárában" [PhD thesis: Aurel Stein and Hungarian academia]
Morgan, Joyce; Walters, Conrad,Journeys on the Silk Road: a desert explorer, Buddha's secret library, and the unearthing of the world's oldest printed book, Picador Australia, 2011,ISBN9781405040419.
Pandita, S.N.,Aurel Stein in Kashmir: Sanskrit of Mohand Marg. Om Publications, 2004.ISBN978-8186867839.
Wang, Helen (ed.). 2002.Sir Aurel Stein in The Times. London, Saffron Books.ISBN1-872843-29-8.
Wang, Helen (ed.). 2004.Sir Aurel Stein. Proceedings of the British Museum Study Day, 2002. British Museum Occasional Paper 142.ISBN0-86159-142-9.[1]Archived 6 September 2011 at theWayback Machine
Wang, Helen and Perkins, John (eds). 2008.Handbook to the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the UK. British Museum Research Publication 129 (updated and expanded edition ofHandbook to the Stein Collections in the UK, 1999).ISBN978-086159-9776.
Wang Jiqing, Photographs in the British Library of Documents and Manuscripts from Sir Aurel Stein's Fourth Central Asian Expedition.[2]Archived 15 August 2021 at theWayback Machine
