University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Carleton Stevens Coon was born on June 23, 1904, in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Phillips Academy in 1921, and then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in 1925. Coon then received both his Masters degree and Doctorate degree from Harvard University in 1928. Coon's field work was extensive, including the excavations of five cave sites in Iran (1949-1955), Afghanistan (1954), Syria and Central Africa (1955), and Chad and Libya (1966-1967). Contained in this collection are mostly records that pertain to Coon’s survey and archaeological excavations during 1949-1955 of five cave sites in Iran: Bisitun in Luristan; Tamtama in Azerbaijan; the Khunik rock shelter in Southern Khorassan; and Belt and Hotu in Gorgan.

The University Museum Expedition to Afghanistan spent six months in 1953 excavating the Bactrian sites of Balkh and Kunduz. The expedition was helmed by Rodney S. Young (Curator of the Mediterranean Section), Schuyler Cammann (Associate Curator in the Oriental Section), and Dorothy Hannah Cox, with additional scouting and surveying work performed by Carlton Coon. Uncovering evidence of the area's pre-Buddhist historical record was this expedition's primary focus. The textual records of the expeditions to Balkh and Kunduz consist of .4 linear feet of correspondence, inventories, preliminary reports, published reports, excavation agreements, field notes, and images. The records have been compiled from two sources: the papers of Dr. Schuyler Cammann (contributed in 1992) and the records of the Asian Section Office at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, an ongoing contribution of records to the Archives over time. Because very similar records were found in both sets of source materials (e.g., correspondence from the same exchange), the records were integrated and then divided into four series: Correspondence, Reports, Field Notes, and Images.