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The Masson Project at the British Museum > Theme Silver coin found at Mir Zakah with the image of the Indo- Greek King, Menan- der (155 BC) holding a spear. The Greek legend gives his Afghanistan: name and title (BASILEOS SOTEROS MENAN- DROU). This king debated on issues of the Buddhist faith Picking up with the monk Nagasena, according to the early Buddhist text Milindapañha, ‘Questions of Milin- da’ (=Menander). the Pieces Formerly Kabul Museum. SPACH. of courtesy Powell, Josephine Ancient Afghanistan through the Eyes of Charles Masson (1800-1853): dols, and the wartime the and dols, The Masson Project at the British Museum In the 1930s, the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan found unexpected evi- Research > dence of an earlier European visitor scribbled in one of the caves above the 55 m Buddha at Afghanistan Bamiyan. This stated: If any fool this high samootch explore hout Afghanistan are now gone, perhaps forever, many forever, perhaps gone, now are Afghanistan hout Know Charles Masson has been here before ce. With each opened box, we marveled at the beauty of the of beauty the at marveled we box, opened each With ce. y lost to the world for the stories they can tell us of humani- of us tell can they stories the for world the to lost y owledge passed on from father to son of how to create them create to how of son to father from on passed owledge s from the City of Rob written in the local Bactrian language Bactrian local the in written Rob of City the from s ything on Afghanistan would wade into the mire of political of mire the into wade would Afghanistan on ything llected on his travels through Afghanistan during the 1830s. the during Afghanistan through travels his on llected More recently Gregory Possehl also found a less ambitious bit of graffiti - just the name Sims-Williams is one of the few scholars who has succeeded has who scholars few the of one is Sims-Williams s quite likely provide the most valuable source of information of source valuable most the provide likely quite s searchers. In Charles Masson’s day, it may have been easy for easy been have may it day, Masson’s Charles In searchers. of sight and memory, as we turn our gazes away, some of the of some away, gazes our turn we as memory, and sight of should be done with the empty niches in Bamiyan? Selecting Bamiyan? in niches empty the with done be should Ellen M. Raven M. Ellen more recent accounts in which they describe their travels and travels their describe they which in accounts recent more reasure of thousands of gold objects, never put on exhibit and exhibit on put never objects, gold of thousands of reasure owledge and that locked into the form of artefacts - is a contin- a is - artefacts of form the into locked that and owledge d also be inappropriate. Thus, we asked some prominent schol- prominent some asked we Thus, inappropriate. be also d “Charles Masson” - pencilled on the wall of another cave nearby. So who was Charles Masson? & tions and the Afghan government are responding to the pleas. Jet pleas. the to responding are government Afghan the and tions aze to the activities of those researchers left virtually anonymous in anonymous virtually left researchers those of activities the to aze By Elizabeth Errington he deserted the Bengal Artillery regi- sausages, washing and train fares; one ment in July 1827. In return for an offi- indulgence - gin (1 shilling and 8 pence Tanja Chute Tanja ittle is known of his personal life. cial pardon in 1835, he was forced to a week) – and, more touchingly, “baby’s L He appears to have been well edu- become a “newswriter”, or spy, for the cloak” (19 shillings).The only other per- cated, knew Latin and Greek, and was British in Kabul. His sound political sonal item that survives is a sheet of fluent enough in Italian and French to advice on Afghanistan was largely paper with the words “Silence must be be thought Italian by a Frenchman and ignored by his superiors and he observed in here” written on it in large French by an Englishman. A contem- resigned in disgust in 1838 at the out- letters. porary in Kabul in 1832 says that he had break of the First Anglo-Afghan War During the years 1833-1838, Masson “grey eyes, red beard, with the hair of (1838-1842). In 1842, he returned to excavated more than fifty Buddhist stu- his head close cut. He had no stockings England. He married in 1844 and spent pas in the Kabul-Jalalabad region. He or shoes, a green cap on his head, and a the years until his death in 1853 seeking also collected numerous small objects dervish drinking cup slung over his alternative employment, working on his and thousands of coins, principally shoulder”; there is no known portrait. manuscripts and coin collection, and from the urban site of Begram, north When the British East India Company dreaming of returning to Afghanistan, of Kabul. Apart from a selection of began funding him to explore the while trying to live on a meagre pension coins and artefacts extracted en route ancient sites around Kabul and Jalal- of £100 per annum. Among his private by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Cal- abad in 1833, they thought he was an papers there are monthly lists headed cutta and his own collection of 35,340 American from Kentucky. But it soon “Should have spent” and “Did spend”, coins, his finds were all sent to the East became apparent that the name Charles which show that his attempts at budg- India Company’s Museum in London. Masson was an alias adopted by an eting were usually unsuccessful. Under After his wife’s death in 1857, £100 enlisted Englishman, James Lewis, after “Avoidable” are basic items like eels, were paid to his children by the East India Company Library in return for his papers, drawings, and coins. When the The relic deposit EIC India Museum closed in 1878, a the burning of cultural objects such as musical instruments and manuscripts, the destruction of statues and images considered i considered images and statues of destruction the manuscripts, and instruments musical as such objects cultural of burning the from the Buddhist large part of Masson’s collection (pos- stupa no. 2 at sibly including about 2,000 coins) was Bimaran, near Jalal- transferred, without proper documen- abad, excavated by tation, to the British Museum. Charles Masson in Masson was dismissed by many of 1834. The gold reli- his contemporaries as a deserter, adven- quary (found with turer, spy, and writer of bad verse. They coins issued about also could not forgive him for being AD 60) contains the proven right in his criticism of the earliest datable British East India Company’s disas- images of the trous involvement in Afghanistan that His cataloguing methods were, writes Errington, ahead of his time, and his efforts are now benefitting another generation of re of generation another benefitting now are efforts his and time, his of ahead Errington, writes were, methods cataloguing His letter personal and Contracts them. preserve to made be must Efforts iconoclasm. Taliban’s the of victims acknowledged less are Nicholas condition. preserved perfectly in recovered now and stored, sealed, carefully were AD century 8th and 4th the between t exquisite its and necropolis Tepe Tilya the discovered Sarianidi Victor archaeologist The examined. be could they before even onl not are looting, through domain public the from disappear or destroyed, are which artefacts that us reminds He missing. now organiza international and action, for need is there Clearly inspiration. and beauty sheer their for simply also but past, ty’s what and Afghanistan; to heritage cultural of objects of return and preservation the of aspects legal the discusses Krieken van experien bittersweet profoundly a was issue this for Museum Kabul the in coins and sculptures of photographs Powell’s Josephine pillage and trade in valuable cultural artefacts – none of this type of devastation is new to humankind. However, seemingly out seemingly However, humankind. to new is devastation of type this of none – artefacts cultural valuable in trade and pillage an that hesitant were we section, theme issue’s this considering When saved. and up picked are rubble the in behind left shards woul issues political to posture dismissive a assume to case, this in especially and however, mandate; our not is which debate, g readers’ our redirect to want We field. the in experiences their possible, if and, findings their work, their describe to ars kn living both – heritage cultural of study and preservation The spectacle. made demolitions the on dwell that publications the co antiquities and records of legacy a left who man intriguing the Masson, Charles on focuses Errington Elizabeth process. uing give ethnomusicologists, two Baily, John and Belle van Jan however, safety; relative in and incognito country the wander to him kn the and poetry, its music, that us remind They diaspora. Afghan the among and Afghanistan inside both musicians of recording coin that out point would numismatist a details, background in fill may manuscripts While them. interpreting and deciphering in throug discovered hoards rich the from coins most Bopearachchi, Osmund reports Unfortunately, gone. and come eras and rulers on – clear. painfully become had records of importance crucial the loss; their for sadness and anger felt and objects Lest we forget, we Lest Museum British the of Courtesy Buddha. led to the First Anglo-Afghan War. As a 8 IIAS Newsletter | #27 | March 2002 > Afghanistan result - apart from the brief account in Drawing by Charles H.
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