Sir Aurel Stein

This is a paper about the young Lajos Ligeti being mistaken for Sir Aurel Stein in Jehol in 1930. The background is a massive media campaign directed by the Society for the Preservation of Antiquities against Stein, trying to force the government to revoke his visa and stop his fourth expedition to Western China. Ligeti, of course, had nothing to do this but he had a Hungarian passport and was very interested in manuscripts, which led local authorities to suspect him of being Stein.

A hand-out prepared for the British Academy, British Museum and British Library conference 'A Hundred Years of Dunhuang, 1907-2007', London, 17-19 May 2007.

A version of this (without the images) was published as Appendix 6 in "Handbook to the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the UK" (ed. by Helen Wang and John Perkins, BM Research Publication 129, 2008).

From the 1790s until World War I, Western museums filled their shelves with art and antiquities from around the world. These objects are now widely regarded as stolen from their countries of origin, and demands for their repatriation grow louder by the day. In The Compensations of Plunder, Justin M. Jacobs brings to light the historical context of the exodus of cultural treasures from northwestern China. Based on a close analysis of previously neglected archives in English, French, and Chinese, Jacobs finds that many local elites in China acquiesced to the removal of art and antiquities abroad, understanding their trade as currency for a cosmopolitan elite. In the decades after the 1911 Revolution, however, these antiquities went from being “diplomatic capital” to disputed icons of the emerging nation-state. A new generation of Chinese scholars began to criminalize the prior activities of archaeologists, erasing all memory of the pragmatic barter relationship that once existed in China. Recovering the voices of those local officials, scholars, and laborers who shaped the global trade in antiquities, The Compensations of Plunder brings historical grounding to a highly contentious topic in modern Chinese history and informs heated debates over cultural restitution throughout the world.

Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) is renowned for his breath-taking archaeological exploration in Chinese Central Asia, India, Iran, Iraq and Jordan, and for his pioneering work on the early civilizations on the "Silk Road". This book brings together over 100 articles and news items relating to Stein and his expeditions, as printed in "The Times" newspaper between 1901-1943, allowing us to follow his achievements as they were first announced in the most important broadsheet of the British empire. Presented in chronological order, they provide a unique narrative of Stein's career as perceived and understood by his contemporaries. Stein had friends all over the world and useful contacts at "The Times". But is there a story behind the publicity? Was Stein media hungry or publicity shy? This hidden context is explored in the introduction.

Colonization and becoming an effective government on the world's politic system are two titles of the Modern Age description. With these aims, some countries, like Russia and England, pursued their actions in Central Asia and South Asia. Especially the effect of England over India and the position of Russia in West Turkistan are particular subjects at the history of these districts. The area, surrounding the Taklamakan Desert and named as Innermost Asia, is one of these districts, the colonization competition focused on. Expedition groups which were formed sometimes specialists from military or scholars, travelled through the Central Asia. These expeditions took months or years according to situations and their results weren't only for the military aims. During expeditions, important data was recorded, about topographical and meteorological knowledge of the region, anthropological features of peoples living on these districts and the sites, significant archaeologically. The reports of them were prepared at the end of the expeditions and they contributed to lots of sciences. Sir Marc Aurel Stein made a lot of expeditions to the Central Asia and Asia Minor with the support of United Kingdom and he was qualified as archaeologist, scholar, explorer and writer. Even though his expeditions and their results served to UK for colonization and being an effective government during Stein day, his books, photographs, letters and archaeological finds, like a library on their own, keep their value for the academicians who will work on the region, will be able to be named as Stein's geography. These resources presented information with the photographs about the cities placed on the expedition route, the sites and antiques, dig out during expeditions and we can trace on these photos either historical side or their conditions at Stein's day. Sir Marc Aurel Stein is a scholar and researcher and loved his position very much so he always developed himself at this way. Albeit he applied the colonization aim of the Britain to get the support of it to their researches, spending the last days of his life, eighty one years, for the expedition in Afghanistan exemplify that he was a scholar. Key Words: Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Expedition, Asia, Central Asia, Innermost Asia, Asia Minor, Colonization.
Yakınçağ Tarihinin tanımını yaparken, sömürge arayışı ve dünya siyasetine yön veren etkin devlet olma yarışı karşımıza çıkan başlıklardan sadece iki tanesidir. Bu doğrultuda başta Rusya, İngiltere, Fransa olmak üzere benzer devletler, Orta Asya ve Güney Asya'da faaliyetlerini sürdürmüşlerdir. Özellikle İngiltere'nin Hindistan üzerindeki etkisi ve Rusya'nın Batı Türkistan'daki konumu, bu bölgelerin tarihinin yazılışında kendilerine ait bölümleri oluşturacak şekilde gerçekleşmiştir. İç Asya olarak isimlendirebileceğimiz Taklamakan Çölü'nü çevreleyen bölge, bu yarışın sürdürüldüğü bölgelerden biridir. Bazen asker kökenli uzmanların, bazen bilim adamlarının önderliğinde oluşturulmuş sefer grupları, İç Asya'ya keşif seferleri düzenlemişlerdir. Koşullara bağlı olarak aylarla veya birkaç yılla sınırlandırılan bu seyahatlerin sonuçları sadece askeri olmamış, bölgenin topografyası, meteorolojik verileri, bölge halklarının antropolojik özellikleri, arkeolojik öneme sahip konumlar gibi veriler düzenli olarak kaydedilerek, sefer sonrasında birçok bilim alanına hizmet eden raporlar hazırlanmıştır. Sir Marc Aurel Stein, İngiltere desteğiyle İç Asya'ya ve Ön Asya'ya çok sayıda keşif seferi düzenlemiş arkeolog, bilim adamı, kâşif ve yazar olarak değerlendirilen bir kişidir. Seferleri ve elde ettiği sonuçlar, kendi döneminde, İngiltere'nin sömürge ve etkin devlet olma yarışına hizmet etmiş olsa da ortaya çıkardığı, başlı başına bir kütüphane niteliğini taşıyan kitapları, fotoğrafları, mektupları ve arkeolojik buluntu envanterleri, sosyal bilimler alanında Stein Coğrafyası olarak adlandırabileceğimiz bölgede çalışacak olan akademisyenler için çok kıymetli kaynak eser olma özelliğini korumaktadır. Bu eserler, sefer güzergâhlarında yer alan şehirler, ören yerleri ve elde edilen buluntuların hem geçmişi hem de Stein dönemine ait durumu hakkında fotoğraflarla örneklendirilen bilgiler sunmaktadır. Sir Marc Aurel Stein, bilim ve araştırma aşığı olan ve kendini bu doğrultuda sürekli geliştirmiş bir insandır. Araştırmalarına destek sağlamak amacıyla İngiliz yöneticilerin sömürge gayretini kullanmış olsa da 81 yıllık ömrünün son günlerini dahi keşif gezisi amacıyla geçirmesi, onun bilim insanı olduğuna örnek teşkil etmektedir. Anahtar Sözcükler: Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Keşif Seferi, Asya, Orta Asya, İçAsya, Ön Asya, Sömürge.

Author/Compiler: Helen Wang. Commissioning editor/general editor: Sajid Rizvi. ISBN 9781872843292, Saffron Books, London. Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943), renowned for his breath-taking archaeological exploration in Chinese Central Asia, India, Iran, Iraq and Jordan, and for his pioneering work on the early civilizations on the Silk Road, is the subject of this compilation of more than 100 articles and news items relating to Stein and his expeditions, as printed in The Times newspaper between 1901-1943. The compilation is preceded by an Introduction by Helen Wang. Part of an ongoing occasional series on Central and Inner Asia.

Aurel Stein was one of the pioneers in the archaeological study of Central Asia. Among their findings highlighted the discovery of the Dunhuang Manuscripts. The A. Stein's decision to take out of China the texts found served to initiate a process of dispersing them by various countries, which has generated harsh criticism from Chinese scholars. Due to the large number of manuscripts discovered in Dunhuang, we focus on the case of manuscripts for the reign of Chinese empress Wu Zetian, who are easily recognizable by changes in Chinese writing were in effect only during his reign.

Turkish version of my paper "The Bilingual Vocabulary Or. 12380/3948 of the Stein Collection in the British Library," in Tōhōgaku 132, 2016], investigating a bilingual fragment in Chinese script excavated from Mazar Tagh (Xinjiang, PRC).
The MS is a vocabulary of Old Turkic-Chinese, dated back to the eighth century.

松井太（白玉冬：譯）「英國圖書館藏“蕃漢語詞對譯”殘片（Or. 12380/3948）再考」『敦煌研究』2017-3, 敦煌研究院, 2017.6, 60–65.
Chinese version of Matsui 2017, Mazar Tagh Harabesi’nden getirilen Eski Türkçe-Çince bir lügatçe.
(This Chinese version has many typo in transcription of the non-Chinese terms)
Or.12380/3948 is a Sino-Turkic Bilingual vocabulary fragment from the Stein Collection in the British Library that was published in the 5th Volume of the Khara-Khoto Documents Collected in the British Library. It was generally believed to be a Sino-Persian bilingual vocabulary manuscript dating to the Mongolia-Yuan dynasty, though it was actually unearthed from the Mazar-Tagh site in Khotan, Xinjiang, and was written in the period when Khotan was ruled by the Chinese Tang Empire. As the language turns out to be none other than ancient Turkic, this manuscript is of important historical value for studying an ancient script about which little is known.

"In the spring of 1930, on his way to Shanghai and Nanking, Sir Aurel Stein visited Japan. This paper is based on his diary and notebook he kept while travelling through the country from Yokohama and Tokyo to the Kansai region. During the several days he spent in Japan, he met most of the Japanese scholars active in the newly emerging field of Dunhuang studies.

The volume Sir Aurel Stein Colleagues  and Collections, edited by Helen Wang, is available online as British Museum Research Publication 184: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_publications/research_publications_online/sir_aurel_stein1.aspx

When Aurel Stein arrived in Lahore in 1888 it was following several decades of archaeological ‘rediscovery’ of Buddhism in the sub-continent, the sites of the historical Buddha, such as his birthplace and first lecture, having been identified in part owing to the writings of a 7th century Chinese monk, Xuanzang. Stein set his archaeological goals further afield, on the ancient Silk Road, also travelled and described by Xuanzang on route to India and, during his first three Central Asian expeditions (1900-1916) consulted Xiyu-ji frequently to locate and identify ancient sites in the Taklamakan. Working in the field only increased his respect for the pilgrim monk. Xiyu-ji has been influential in many fields, including literature and myth – but In this paper Dr Whitfield will consider its influence and importance on Silk Road archaeology.

Günümüzde sosyal bilimler alanında yer alan ve bu bakış açısı ile değerlendirilen disiplinler 18. yüzyılın başlarında şekillenmeye başlamıştır. Bu yüzyılın özellikle ikinci yarısından itibaren örneklerini görmeye başladığımız Filoloji ve Sinoloji çalışmaları da bu disiplinler arasında yer almaktadır. 19. yüzyıla gelindiğinde her iki alan da Avrupa’nın önde gelen üniversitelerinde bilim dalları olarak nitelenerek yerlerini almışlardır. Tarih ve Arkeoloji bilim dalları ile koordineli çalışılarak yapılan araştırmalar, bugün dahi eserlerinden faydalandığımız önemli kişilerin yetişmesini sağlamıştır. Diğer ülkelere kıyasla Sinoloji alanında Fransa, daha fazla bilim insanı yetiştirerek, önemli çalışmalar
ortaya koymuştur. Joseph de Guignes (1721-1800), Édouard Chavannes
(1865-1918) verebileceğimiz en iyi örnekler arasında yer alırken, Henri Maspero (1883-1945), Marcel Granet (1884-1940) ile birlikte yazımızda tanıtmaya çalışacağımız Paul Pelliot bu alanda Édouard Chavannes’in yetiştirdiği öğrencilerinden en tanınanlarıdır. Pelliot’un vefatının ardından kaleme alınan bir yazıda, “Bu cesur Fransızların yaptıklarının ardından Paris tekrar Sinoloji’nin Mekke’si haline gelmiştir” denilmektedir.2 Chavannes’den aldığı eğitim sonrası çalışmaları ile Avrupa’da Sinoloji çalışmalarını 20. yüzyıla taşıyan kişi Paul Pelliot’du ve o daha sonra bibliyografya, linguistik, metin kritiği, tarih, arkeoloji, sanat tarihi, dinler tarihi vb. gibi alt başlıklarla çalışılan Sinoloji’nin tüm bu alanlarına vakıf olmuştur.3 Sinoloji kompleks yapısı sebebiyle 20. yüzyılın ilk yarısında saydığımız bu alt dallara bölünürken; Chavannes ile Pelliot eski dönem Sinologlarının son örnekleri olmuşlardır.4 Bilgi birikimi ile ortaya koyduğu çalışmalarının odak noktası Asya coğrafyasını da kapsadığı için çalışmalarının ve eserlerinin alanı ile konuları, Türk Tarihi araştırmaları
ile kesişmektedir. Bu noktadan yola çıkarak, yazımızda Paul Pelliot’nun hayatını ve eserlerini aktarmaya çalışacağız.

The following notes are meant to contribute to the debate on the whereabouts of the Indian Aornos conquered by Alexander the Great. The article presents some new viewpoints from both field archaeology and literary sources. The integrated approach of historical geography, literary exegesis, and field archaeology can be particularly fructuous when the archaeology contribution is based – as in this case - on sound and reliable stratigraphic information. The ancient geography angle is approached in this article from the hodological viewpoint, which may give new answers to old problems.

In the years 2008–10, during the cataloguing of some pre-Partition documents in the provincial archives of
Pakistan, a corpus of unpublished documents referring to archaeological matters came to the light. The corpus
also contains 26 letters by Sir Aurel Stein, some of them copies, others in original autographed manuscripts.
These archival documents are connected to the explorations of Sir Aurel Stein in Swat. A first group is linked to
his 1926 trip to Swat and to his identification of the Indian Aornos of Alexander’s historians with Mt. Pir-sar. A
second group is related to three failed plans by Stein to carry out new explorations in Swat, a goal that he
eventually accomplished only in 1941 when he was 79. The three attempts occurred respectively in 1928, in 1931,
and in 1933.
Keywords: Stein; Swat; Aornos

The RGS Archives in London contain a small lot of material related to the Ōtani expeditions, and so far these documents have escaped the attention of those working on the history of the exploration of Central Asia. The material consists of a map, some photographs and a short typescript of a report of the expedition. Together, they can help us shed additional light on the details of the two trips led by Tachibana Zuichō (1890-1968) between 1908 and 1914. The material also reveals that there had been repeated efforts to communicate the results of the Japanese expeditions with the RGS in an attempt to publicize them in the West, even though much of this information never came out in print.

1930 tavaszán Stein Aurél Shanghaiba és Nankingba látogatott, hogy megszerezze a negyedik turkesztáni expedíciójához szükséges engedélyeket a kínai kormánytól. Ennek hatására a félhivatalos Kulturális Kincsek Védelmének Társasága megindított egy, a nyilvánosság megnyerésére irányuló kampányt, amellyel nyomást próbált gyakorolni a kormányra, hogy az bevonja Stein engedélyét. Ekkor figyeltek fel a helyi szervek a fiatal Ligeti Lajosra, aki hosszú hónapok óta Észak-Kína lámakolostoraiban buddhista szövegeket tanulmányozott.
A fiatal kutató azzal érdemelte ki a kormányzóság figyelmét, hogy lelkes érdeklődést tanúsított a régi írások iránt és mindemellett még magyar útlevele is volt, és ez a két örülmény azonnal felvetette a gyanút, hogy ő valójában Stein Aurél.

""Prestigegüter entlang der Seidenstraße? first and foremost aims to assess exquisite objects of art – Chinese silks in various weaving patterns, Chinese lacquer objects, Chinese bronze mirrors and Persian (Sassanian) glassware – and their social function(s) within the ancient cultures of the Taklamakan Desert. It is a comprehensive analysis of the archaeological findings and features unearthed at several cemeteries dating roughly from the 2nd through 5th centuries CE that are located along the so-called “Southern Route” of the Chinese part of the Silk Road. In Chinese and in Western sources, these burial sites are (very well) known under the names of Yingpan 營盤, Loulan 樓蘭, Zhagunluke (Cherchen) 札滾魯克, and Niya 尼雅. The respective tombs yielded copious amounts of indigenous and imported artifacts as well as a large number of well-preserved mummies, most notably the famous ‘Yingpan Man’ sporting a mustachioed death mask. Thus, at the core of the book lays an extensively annotated compilation of burial assemblages that combines all available data collected from eighty eligible graves. The resulting database – it amounts to more than 300 pages excluding figures and tables – not only offers a comprehensive overview of all findings, but also delivers a detailed description of every known object from every single grave for the first time in a Western language.

It is often proposed that a considerable number of the Chinese commodities retrieved from these burials once were reciprocal gifts from Chinese rulers and thus an essential part of the so-called “tributary system.” Prestigegüter entlang der Seidenstraße? also aims to clarify the nature of the relationships between Chinese dynasties and the city-states of the Tarim Basin, which are usually neglected in favor of more powerful “barbarians” such as the Xiongnu. In order to do so, it was necessary to evaluate the respective information offered by Chinese historiographical sources (Hanshu 漢書, Hou hanshu 後漢書, Sanguozhi 三國志, Jinshu 晉書). The comparison of (more than forty) tribute missions from the Tarim Basin statelets to various Chinese courts with putative counter gifts over the course of roughly four hundred years clearly demonstrated that different mechanisms were at play. In none of the altogether four (!) instances any of the history books record imperial presents were these gift occasioned by the acceptance of tribute. By delivering tribute, the foreigners actually sought to secure amicable relations; they did not abuse tribute relations as “a cloak for trade.”

The archaeological sources, in general, mirror this impression. Even though one might consider a present from the hands of a Chinese emperor the ultimate prestige good, there are no indications that one of the buried individuals was in the possession of an immediate imperial gift. Although a considerable number of tomb occupants were equipped with artifacts produced somewhere in mainland China, the relics were hardly ever crafted in imperial workshops. That is to say with the exception of polychrome figured silks in warp-faced compound tabby weave (generally known as jin 錦 silks). These textiles are often adorned by auspicious inscriptions that occasionally propagate political agendas. But even such precious fabrics should be regarded as traded commodities rather than presents. This view is not only supported by the fact that in most cases relatively small fragments of many different weaving patterns were used, but also that some jin samples provide us with ink inscriptions in Chinese and the Kharosthi script that explicitly refer to the price of the textile.

But then, what exactly could be regarded a manifestation of an immensely complex social phenomenon such as prestige in archaeological data? At first glance, the collected evidence suggests that all imported Chinese objects must have been expensive; an observation that does not necessarily imply that all social actors considered them prestigious. The fact that some individuals produced or acquired imitations Chinese artifacts clearly indicates that they somehow admired the originals but, for various reasons, were unable to get hold of such items. Physical expressions of emulation, i.e. copies or imitations, certainly show that originals generated prestige, at least among a certain social group of admirers. More specifically, some Tarim Basin burials indeed provide us with proof that Western Asian weavers emulated Chinese jin silks. In their attempts to transform the latter’s principal decorative motifs into the typical Western Asian weaving technique known as taqueté, i.e. weft-faced compound tabby weaves, artisans even tried to copy – very crudely and unsuccessfully, I might add – Chinese script.""

An updated paper of 'Stein and Oldenburg' including transcriptions of Stein's letters. Published in St Petersburg, 2016.
Oldenburg was part of a close network of pan-European scholars interested in Asia and exploration. This paper discusses Oldenburg’s correspondence with scholars based in Britain, including Cecil Bendall and F. W. Thomas but concentrating on M. Aurel Stein. It follows on from previous papers, by the author and by Wang Jiqing, adding to the these by considering the Oldenburg correspondence in the archives of the St Petersburg Branch of the Academy of Sciences.  It shows that the relationships moved beyond the professional and scholarly and that, although rarely meeting, these scholars became friends. It also points out the high regard in which both Oldenburg and the Russian Academy of Sciences were held and their importance for furthering scholarship and knowledge in this field.

The National Library of China holds a copy of a manuscript about a journey to China in search of antiquities, by a certain Englishman called Shi Dan. This manuscript, dated in the translator's postface to 1902 turns out to be a translation of Aurel Stein's preliminary report of his first expedition to China, from the time when Stein was largely unknown both in China and in the West.