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The vast territories of central asia and area bordering the Indo-pak subcontinent played a decisive role through the silk route, in the intermingling of occidental and oriental cultures, especially those of india, iranian, chinese, west-asiatic and hellenstic origin. A notable aspect ofc central asian history was the growth of buddhism in the preislamic period. However, in the course of time, this rich legacy of central asia was completely forgotten, and the credit of its rediscovery goes largely to european explores of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sir aurel stein being the foremost among them. He undertook three successive explorations covering a total span of seven years in central asian regions between 1900-1916 and discovered scores of buddhist shrines containing murals and varieties of structural relicts besides sculptures and other articles. Later on he also explored extensively, several parts of baluchistan, resulting in the discovery of large number of protohistoric sties. The exploration reports of sir stein were subsequently published in several volumes, of which many went out of print and became rare. Some individual volumes from this series of reports were released in early 80s but due to vastness and scope of these monumental works it became increasingly necessary to make the whole set of reports available in a single set. The collections formed by Stein during his lengthy and ardous expeditions in Central Asia between 1900 and 1916 were divided among several museums the british museums and museum of central asian antiquities in new delhi being the main beneficiaries. This collection, one of the majhor treasures, is for conservation reasons exhibited very occasionally. In these volumes which contain a total of 10000 pages of illustrations and 33 large size profolios, one can now appreciated an immense quantity of archaeological material excavated from the enshouring soil and debris of ages. An extraordinary individual, sir aurel stein ( 1862-1943) purused dramatic adventure with scientific purpose. A hungarian by birtyh, trined as on orientalist and animated by a lifelong fascination with three great travellers alexander the great, xuan zang and macro polo. Stein planned several expeditions in their footsteps. His discoveries of a previously unknown Buddhist civilisation complete with its own remarkable art and literature causeda sensation at the time and led to much international rivarly in this remote region. The rediscovery of the anciehnt Silk road and the unearthing of dozens of sites long buries in desrt sounds are still today the subject of much scholarly and general interest. ISBN 81-7020-095-4. Total volume 12. Pages 2750. Illustration about 2000, maps 53 in 75 52 cm. Portfolio volume, drawings, plates sizxe 38 51 cm, 26 33 cm. & 33 & 20 cm. Cloth
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