Ruins of Desert Cathay: Volume 1

by Aurel Stein

2 volume set. Maps and Panoramas are in pocket of second volume

546 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Sir Marc Aurel Stein (usually known as Aurel Stein) KCIE, FBA (Hungarian: Stein Márk Aurél) (26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at various Indian universities.

Stein was born in Budapest into a Jewish family. His parents had him and his brother, Ernst Eduard, baptised as Lutherans, while his parents and sisters remained Jews (a common way at the time to increase the chance of one's sons being successful). He later became a British citizen and made his famous expeditions with British sponsorship.

Reviews

[Jeanne Ferris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stein traveled nearly 10,000 miles in Central Asia in 1906-8, enduring extreme heat and cold, unrelenting winds, dust storms, far too much precipitation (on several occasions members of his team sank up to their armpits in soft snow), drought, risks of avalanches and floods--and just when you think there's nothing else that could afflict him and his team, a plague of mosquitoes and other insects descend! At one point near the end of volume 2, he says "The track was impressively bad." Shortly afterward he had such bad frostbite that the toes on his right foot had to be amputated. This account of his adventures has him and his team conducting the first surveys of some areas and making important archaeological discoveries. He also found ancient mousetraps, which I found an endearing touch. This journey was an amazing adventure!