AUREL Stein, traveller extraordinary, archaeologist par excellence, gifted linguist, was born in 1862 in Budapest and died in 1943 in Kabul. At one extreme he was labelled a bore, a man of such conventional views that even his brother Ernst found him uninteresting. At the other, however, he lived an amazingly daring life.
With extraordinary courage and doggedness he led a series of archaeological expeditions into the remote expanses of central Asia, which had a profound effect on our understanding of these areas of ancient, 'lost' civilisations.
The surveys and books he wrote are still studied and respected as are the wondrous objects he brought back, especially the vast quantity of manuscripts from Dunhuang.
Although born a Hungarian, Stein soon became a naturalised British citizen and for that reason he was able to work for the British in India, becoming Registrar of Punjab University at the age of 25. It was from India that he arranged and made his journeys to locate and survey the lost cities of Niya, Lou-Ian, Miran and Dandan-Uiliq as well as the Dunhuang caves.
Although the great Buddhist library he rescued from Dunhuang has come to dominate his reputation, in fact his main professional interest was always Gandaran culture. Even in extreme old age it was Gandaran civilisation that consumed his interest; when he dies at Kabul he was about to set off on yet another exploration into Gandaran territory.
There seems no doubt that Stein's single most important discovery was the world's earliest dated printed book, an important Buddhist scripture, the Diamond Sutra, which he found at Dunhuang and which has been for many years on public display in the King's Library at the British Museum.