Gregory Possehl

Gregory Possehl is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and curator of the Asian Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He has been involved in excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization in India and Pakistan since 1964, and is an author of many books and articles on the Indus Civilization and related topics. He received his BA in Anthropology from the University of Washington in 1964, his MA in Anthropology from the University of Washington in 1967, and his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1974. He has conducted major excavations in Gujarat (Rojdi, Babar Kot and Oriyo Timbo), Rajasthan (Gilund), and in January 2007, began an excavation at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bat in the Sultanate of Oman.

He is an exponent of the view that the culture of the Vedic period is a direct successor of the Indus Valley Civilization. In his book "Ancient Cities of the Indus" he writes that "the first point to be emphasized is that the problem seems not to be best stated as the "end" of a civilization, at least in the sense of a tradition, since there are abundant signs of cultural continuity in Sindh, Gujarat, the Punjab and adjacent areas of the North India."

Articles

*2002 "Indus-Mesopotamian trade: The record in the Indus". Iranica Antiqua. XXXVII: 322-40.
*2000 "Harappan Beginnings". In, Martha Lamberg-Karlovsky, "Breakout: The origins of civilization". Museum Monographs 9 Cambridge: Peabody Museum: 99-112.
*1999 "Early Iron Age in South Asia". In Vincent Pigott, editor, "The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World". University Museum Monograph 89, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology Volume 16 Philadelphia: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, pp. 153-175. With Praveena Gullapalli
*1998 "Did the Sarasvati Ever Flow to the Sea?". In C. S. Philips, D. T. Potts and S. Searight, eds., "Arabia and its Neighbors: Essays on prehistorical and historical developments presented in honor of Beatrice de Cardi". Brussels: Brepols: 339-354.
*1998 "Introduction of African Millets to the Indian Subcontinent". In, H. D. V. Pendergast, N. L. Etkin, D. R. Harris and P. J. Houghton, eds., "Plants for Food and Medicine". Kew: The Royal Botanic Gardens: 107-121.
*1998 "Sociocultural complexity without the state: The Indus Civilization". In, Gary M. Feinman and Joyce Marcus eds., "The Archaic State". Santa Fe: School of American Research: 261-91
*1997 "The Transformation of the Indus Civilization". Journal of World Prehistory. Volume 11, No. 4: 425-71.
*1996 "Climate and the eclipse of the ancient cities of the Indus". In, H. Nuzhet Dalfes, George Kukla and Harvey Weiss, eds., "Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse". NATO ASI, Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 49. Berlin: Otto Springer: 193-244.
*1996 "Meluhha". In, Julian E. Reade, ed., "The Indian Ocean in Antiquity." London: Kegan Paul International in Association with the British Museum: 133-208.
*1994 "The Indus civilization". Man and Environment, 19(1-2): 103-13.
*1992 "The chronology of prehistoric India: from earliest times to the Iron Age". In, Robert Ehrich, ed., "Chronologies in Old World Archaeology", 3rd ed. 2 Vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 465-90 & 447-74., with Paul C. Rissman
*1990 "Revolution in the urban revolution: the emergence of Indus urbanization". Annual Review of Anthropology, 19: 261-82.
*1982 "Cambay bead making: an ancient craft in modern India". Expedition, 23(4): 39-46.
*1979 "Pastoral nomadism in the Indus Civilization: an hypothesis." In, M. Taddei, ed., "South Asian Archaeology" 1977. Naples: Instituto Universitario Orientale, Seminario di Studi Asiatici, Series Minor 6: 537-51.

Books

*2002 "The Indus Civilization: A contemporary perspective". Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.
*1999 "Indus Age: The beginnings". Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
*1996 "Indus Age: The writing system". Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
*1993 "Harappan Civilization: A recent perspective". 2nd revised edition. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: edited
*1989 "Harappan Civilization and Rojdi". Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: with M. H. Raval.
*1986 "Kulli: An exploration of ancient civilization in South Asia". Durham: Carolina Academic Press.

External links

* [http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~gpossehl/home.html Homepage with publications]
* [http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_rv/t_rv_agraw_indus_frameset.htm Review of "The Indus Civilization]