SIR AUREL STEIN
IT would be impertinent to attempt, in this review, to adjudicate on the importance or ultimate merits of this book which, by a great expert, is addressed mainly to other experts. The journals of the Royal Geographical and Royal Central Asian Societies will, it is hoped, perform this office in due time.
Sir Aurel's goal, in 793o, was Chinese Turkestan, from entering which he was prevented by nationalist pettifogging. Disappointed but by no means cast down he turned to North Western India and thence he made a gradual progress to Kerman, hardly covering a foot of ground without first debating its archaeological worth. From Kerman he returned to England in 1932 for four months and then set out again for Persia. Arrived in Kerman once more he made his way to the Gulf. His luck had held out long, and now with horrible familiarity nationalist pettifogging, of the Persian brand, appeared obstructively in his path. Politeness charmed the devils away and with plane table still intact he reached Bander Abbas, from where he made surveys of the sites of Old and New Hormuz. He slowly travelled along the Gulf Coast to Bushire and then inland to Persepolis where he conferred with Professor Ernst Heizfeld, the learned excavator of that greatest of ancient sites, and Monsieur A. Godard, the Director of antiquities in Iran. A more distinguished archaeological gathering can hardly be imagined. Returned to India Sir Aurel received news that his application for permission to travel through Fars had been favourably answered. The volume under review contains an account of Sir Aurel Stein's Investigations up to the beginning of this third journey. The success of the latter will be celebrated in another work.
In this book Sir Aurel gives an account of the result of
three lines of investigation which preoccupied him on these gruelling journeys extending over aggregate marching distances of two thousand four hundred miles : the changes in the physical structure of that part of the world (there is evidence that within historical times these changes have sometimes been drastic), accurate locations of the route of Alexander's, return march from India, and excavations of prehistoric sites. The latter investigation takes up most of Sir Aurel's interest and time and his discoveries may lead eventually to a radically. different theory of the early history of the Middle East. Since a long time scholars have been discontented with the assumption that the Aryans (or whatever they should be called) marched into a relatively virgin Persia, but correc- tions of this view have until recently lacked distinct shape. During his excavation of Persepolis, Professor Heizfeld brought to light the remains of a pre-historic settlement which showed a remarkably high degree of culture. Sir Aurel's investi-i gations over a vast area hitherto unsurveyed by archaeologists, tend to correlate this discovery with ancient Elam and Susiana on the one hand, and the earliest known civilisation in the lower Indus Valley. If further investigations tend to add more weight to this evidence of an extensive homogeneous civilisation during the fourth millennium R.c., the importance of Sir Aurel's initial reconnaissances to historical theory will have been enormous.
This book, however, is not likely to effect a revolution in the mind of anyone except a specialist on the subject. As a reviewer has said this is the " raw material " of history, and very raw indeed for the intellectual digestion of the ordinary, reader, among whom I reckon myself. We must wait for this knowledge to filter into popular history books. I hope, however, that, for the delectation of the aforementioned ordinary reader, another book may come out of these courageous journeys. Sir Aurel Stein is one of those few people who,- like Marco Polo, make us regret their lack of egotism, and I trust that among his gallant staff there was one who kept a personal diary on the lines of Boswell. Let us hope that this diary is soon to be published and the world to be enriched with a portrait of the astonishing veteran.
CHRISTOPHER SYKES.
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