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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Stein, Aurel
Legal name: Stein, Marc Aurel
Birthdate: 1862-11-26
Date of death: 1943-10-26
Burial location: British Cemetery, Kabul, Afghanistan
Gender: male
Nationality: Austria-Hungary (birth)
UK
Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
Place of death: Kabul, Afghanistan
Places of residence: Budapest, Hungary
London, England, UK
Gulmarg, Kashmir, India
Education: University of Vienna
University of Leipzig
University of Tubingen
Occupations: archaeologist
historian
explorer
Organizations: British Library
University of the Punjab
Indian Archaeological Survey
Awards and honors: Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Fellow of the British Academy
Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries
Huxley Medal
Short biography: Sir Marc Aurel Stein, KCIE, FBA (Hungarian: Stein Márk Aurél) (26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities.
Stein was also an ethnographer, geographer, linguist and surveyor. His collection of books and manuscripts taken from Dunhuang caves is important for the study of the history of Central Asia and the art and literature of Buddhism. He wrote several volumes on his expeditions and discoveries which include Ancient Khotan, Serindia and Innermost Asia.
[Wikipedia]

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Reviews

On ancient Central-Asian tracks;: Brief narrative of… by Aurel Stein

Although this account is of amazing journeys, it seems reserved almost to the point of superficiality. Aurel Stein emphasizes his reliance on, and his emotional connection to, those explorers who preceded him by hundreds of years, as well as the cosmopolitan nature of the art he finds (Asian facial features, Hellenistic robes depicted in the same works), but he gives short shrift to the the actual experiences he and his entourage had on their journeys. It is fascinating that, hundreds of years later, he can discern the physical landmarks as described by previous explorers such as Marco Polo so many years before, but it would have been more satisfying if he had made the connections by more extensive quotes from his predecessors' works. Although some of the extreme physical demands of the journeys are mentioned, they are really not described in any detail. The author praises many of those who journeyed with him, but he does not give us any in depth description of their personalities, or of his relationships with them. The (too few) photographs in the book give a hint of the vastness of the landscape. I am so impressed by the treks themselves, that it seems somehow a bit unfair to quibble that the narrative is disjointed because it does not have coherent organizing principle (it is not chronological, nor, as far as I can tell, thematic). However, the biggest fault of the book was not Aurel Stein's, but the editor/publisher who decided to omit some of the illustrations, and failed to include maps detailed and large enough to show the paths of Aurel Stein's expeditions.… (more)