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'{{short description|British East India Company soldier and explorer}} {{for|the Canadian ice hockey player|Charles Masson (ice hockey)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2012}} [[File:Stupa 2 Bimaran Charles Masson.jpg|thumb|The Stupa Nb.2 at [[Bimaran]], where the [[Bimaran reliquary]] was excavated. Drawing by Charles Masson.]] '''Charles Masson''' (1800–1853) was the pseudonym of '''James Lewis''', a [[British East India Company]] soldier and [[explorer]]. He was the first European to discover the ruins of [[Harappa]] near [[Sahiwal]] in [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]], now in [[Pakistan]]. ==Early life== British by birth, Masson joined the [[Bengal Artillery]] wing of the East India Company Army in [[India]] and served in the [[Siege of Bhurtpore (1805)|Battle of Bharatpur]]. ==Travels== [[File:Plaque on Bactrian coins by Charles Masson.jpg|thumb|A plate of Masson's Bactrian coins, published in the Journal of the [[Asiatic Society of Bengal]], 1836.]] In 1827, while stationed at [[Agra]], he and a colleague deserted and traveled through parts of the [[Punjab region|Punjab]] that were under British control at that time. At [[Ahmadpur East|Ahmadpur]], they were rescued by [[Josiah Harlan]] and commissioned as mounted orderlies in his expedition to overthrow the regime in [[Kabul]], Afghanistan. Not long afterward, near [[Dera Ghazi Khan]], he deserted Harlan. Between 1833 and 1838, Masson excavated over 50 Buddhist sites around Kabul and [[Jalalabad]] in south-eastern Afghanistan, amassing a large collection of small objects and many coins, principally from the site at [[Bagram]] (the ancient [[Alexandria on the Caucasus]]), north of Kabul. From 1827, when he deserted, to his return to England in 1842, it is estimated that Masson collected around 47,000 coins. Masson was the first European to see the ruins of [[Harappa]], described and illustrated in his book ''Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and The Punjab''. He also visited the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]] and [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], serving as an agent of the East India Company. In the 1930s, the [[French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan]] (''Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan'', DAFA) found unexpected evidence of an earlier European visitor scribbled in one of the caves above the 55 m Buddha at [[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Bamiyan]]. This stated:<br /> ''If any fool this high samootch explore,''<br /> ''Know Charles Masson has been here before''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iias.nl/sites/default/files/IIAS_NL27_0809.pdf |title=Elizabeth Errington, "Ancient Afghanistan through the Eyes of Charles Masson (1800-1853): The Masson Project at the British Museum", ''IIAS Newsletter no.27'', pp.8-9 |access-date=21 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508101731/http://www.iias.nl/sites/default/files/IIAS_NL27_0809.pdf |archive-date=8 May 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==The Masson Project at the British Museum== Through his wide-ranging travels, Masson built up an extraordinary collection of artefacts largely (although not exclusively) from the modern states of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]]. Numbering about 9,000 objects, they are now held by the [[British Museum]].<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?people=138885&peoA=138885-3-7 British Museum Collection]</ref> The Masson Project is led by Dr [[Elizabeth Errington]], and aims to publish Masson's collection. Publications so far include: '''Two major catalogues''' * ''Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan: Explorations, Excavations, Collections 1832-1835'', by Elizabeth Errington, British Museum Research Publication 215 (2017).<ref>https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/charles-masson-and-the-buddhist-sites-of-afghanistan.html</ref> * ''The Charles Masson Archive: British Library, British Museum and Other Documents Relating to the 1832–1838 Masson Collection from Afghanistan'', by Elizabeth Errington, assisted by Piers Baker, Kirstin Leighton-Boyce and Wannaporn Kay Rienjang, British Museum Research Publication 216 (2017).<ref>http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/Masson%20archive%20Vol.%202.pdf</ref> '''Shorter articles'''<br> *E. Errington and V.S. Curtis, From Persepolisto the Punjab. Exploring the Past in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan (London, The British Museum Press, 2007), passim. *E. Errington, ‘“Boots”, “female idols” and disembodied heads’, Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology I (2006), pp. 89-96 *E. Errington, ‘Charles Masson’, Encyclopaedia Iranica online (2004) *E. Errington, ‘Ancient Afghanistan through the eyes of Charles Masson: the Masson Project at the British Museum’, International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter (March 2002), pp. 8-9 *E. Errington, ‘The collections of Charles Masson (1800-53)’, Circle of Inner Asian Art Newsletter 15 (2002), pp. 29-30 *E. Errington, ‘Discovering ancient Afghanistan, The Masson Collection’, Minerva 13/6 (2002), pp. 53-5 *E. Errington, ‘Discovering ancient Afghanistan’, British Museum Magazine 44 (2002), p. 8 *E. Errington, ‘Charles Masson and Begram’, Topoi 11/1 (2001 [2003]), pp. 357-409 *E. Errington, ‘Rediscovering the collections of Charles Masson’, in M. Alram and D. E. Klimburg-Salter (eds.)Coins, Art and Chronology. Essays on the pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands (Vienna, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1999), pp. 207-37 ==Bibliography== '''Books and edited volumes:''' *1842 [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009657990 ''Narrative of various journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Panjab''], 4 vols. Richard Bentley, London, reprinted [https://books.google.com/books?id=dNYWAAAAQAAJ 1844], 2001 ([[Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers]], {{ISBN|978-8121510332}}). *1843 [https://books.google.com/books?id=XoxCAAAAIAAJ&dq=Charles%20Masson&client=firefox-a&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q=&f=false ''Narrative of a journey to Kalât, including an insurrection at that place in 1840; and A Memoir on Eastern Balocistan''], [[Richard Bentley (publisher)|Richard Bentley]], London. *1848 [https://books.google.com/books?id=DvTWAAAAMAAJ&dq=Charles%20Masson&client=firefox-a&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q=&f=false ''Legends of the Afghan countries, in verse''], James Madden, London. '''Articles:''' *1841 [https://books.google.com/books?id=w3kWAAAAYAAJ&dq=Charles%20Masson&client=firefox-a&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false A memoir on the buildings called topes. In Ariana Antiqua: A descriptive account of the antiquities and coins of Afghanistan], edited by [[Horace Hayman Wilson]]. [[East India Company]], London. ==Further reading== *[[Gordon Whitteridge|Whitteridge, Gordon]]: ''Charles Masson of Afghanistan : explorer, archaeologist, numismatist and intelligence agent'' (Warminster : Aris & Phillips, 1985). *[[Errington, Elizabeth]], and Curtis, Vesta Sarkosh (eds): ''From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan'' (London: British Museum Press, 2007; reprinted 2011). *[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/ot_grp5/ot_masson_20040616.html Iranica-Article]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[[Ben Macintyre]], ''The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. {{ISBN|0-374-20178-1}} *[http://www.harappa.com/har/masson0.html Charles Masson]'s Harappa *Charles Masson. ''Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and The Panjab''.{{ISBN|978-8121510332}} *[http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=masson Charles Masson of Afghanistan: Deserter, Scholar, Spy] Biographical article by [[Bijan Omrani]]. *[http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=MassonSiege A chapter describing Charles Masson's role in the 1840 siege of Kelat] ==See also== *[[Indus Valley Civilization]] *[[Harappa]] ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Masson, Charles}} [[Category:1800 births]] [[Category:1853 deaths]] [[Category:British numismatists]] [[Category:British explorers]] [[Category:Bengal Artillery soldiers]] [[Category:People from the City of London]] [[Category:Explorers of Central Asia]] [[Category:People associated with the Indus Valley Civilisation]]'