"The papers collected in this volume throw new light on Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943), and his life and work. They consider his Hungarian background, his links with Hungary throughout his life, and, in particular, his working methods. They reveal how his discipline out in the field enabled him to produce popular travelogues and superb specialist reports swiftly and accurately, which in turn brought him international acclaim and support for future expeditions. They also examine Stein's travelling companions in China and Iran, namely Milton Bramlette and Bahman Karimi. Stein was forced to abandon his Fourth Expedition in China, and neither he nor Bramlette ever wrote about it. Instead, Stein turned his attention to Iran, where his official Iranian escort, Karimi, did eventually publish his view of that arduous expedition. One paper compares Stein's archaeological work in Iran with that of Andrew George Williamson (1945-75) thirty years later and finds that while their methods were different, the results were remarkably similar. The book concludes with a catalogue of the Stein papers in the British Museum's Central Archives.

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