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Category Archives: Aurel Stein
Forthcoming posts: Stein’s Friends and Exhibitions – UPDATE 1 October 2025
Quick update to below: I am currently writing a paper on Stein’ circle of female friends and will give publication details shortly. I realise it has been a while since I posted anything. I have several posts in progress and … Continue reading
Revisiting Amluk Dara
Amluk Dara, literally ‘wild persimmon hill’, is used to name a Buddhist stupa and monastic complex in the Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan. It was visited, drawn, photographed and partially excavated by Aurel Stein during his tour to Swat in … Continue reading
Posted in Aurel Stein, Buddhism, cultural heritage, Silk Road archaeology, stupas
Tagged archaeology, Buddhism, ISMEO, Marc Aurel Stein, Silk Road, stupa
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New Online Journal: Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage
Delighted to see the inaugural issue of the new journal, Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage edited by colleagues at UCL, Institute of Archaeology. Also relieved that it has provided a home for an article of mine long in the making, … Continue reading
Posted in Aurel Stein, British Museum, Dunhuang, Silk Road archaeology
Tagged archaeology, British Museum, Dunhuang, Marc Aurel Stein, Silk Road
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The Painting Left Behind
Silk painting from Dunhuang, mistaken as a copy and sent by letter post to India. Continue reading
Central Asian Collections in Munich
Francke and Körber: 1914 expedition to Central Asia: Kashgar, Yarkhand, Khotan and Ladakh. Continue reading
Early Exhibitions of the Collections of Aurel Stein, Part 4: 1918, Royal Geographical Society, London
@RGS_IBG 1918 exhibition of Aurel Stein’s 3rd expedition #SilkRoad #photographs. Continue reading
Aurel Stein at Dunhuang
A snippet from the forthcoming paper concerning Stein’s acquisitions from the Library cave at Dunhuang Mogao. Continue reading
Routes from the Swat: Buddhism in Khotan
In AD 480 the Chinese pilgrim Faxian reached the central Asian oasis kingdom of Khotan, source of jade and a thriving centre of Buddhism. Even though Buddhism was well established in his homeland, China, he was struck by the evidence … Continue reading
Posted in Aurel Stein, Buddhism, Silk Road archaeology
Tagged archaeology, Buddhism, Khotan, Marc Aurel Stein, Pakistan, Silk Road, stupa, Swat
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Early Exhibitions of the Collections of Aurel Stein, Part 3: 1914, King Edward VII Galleries
On 7 May 1914, the British Museum opened the new north wing of the Museum, the King Edward VII Galleries.1 The opening exhibition in the ground floor galleries showed paintings, manuscripts and other artefacts acquired by Aurel Stein (1862–1943) on … Continue reading
Posted in Aurel Stein, British Museum, Exhibitions
Tagged archaeology, architecture, art, British Museum, Buddhism, Dunhuang, Exhibitions, Laurence Binyon, Silk Road, Stein
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Lost in the Desert: Stein at Dura-Europos
Aurel Stein at Dura-Europos, 1929. The British Library, Photo 392/42* Over the winter of 1928-9, the city of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates was being excavated by a team led by Maurice Pillet (1881-1964), which included a Yale academic, Clark Hopkins … Continue reading
Silk Road Digressions 