Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient India & the Arabian Peninsula The Library of the late Gregory L. Possehl Professor of Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania Curator of the Asian Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (with completions from the libraries of Professor Maurizio Tosi, University of Ravenna and Professor Robert H. Dyson, Jr., University of Pennsylvania) 2095 titles in over 2650 physical volumes ARS LIBRI 2 THE GREGORY L. POSSEHL LIBRARY Gregory L. Possehl; spent years digging up history October 23, 2011|By Walter F. Naedele, Inquirer Staff Writer · Gregory L. Possehl explored many archaeological sites. 13 April, 2012 ARS LIBRI 3 THE GREGORY L. POSSEHL LIBRARY Gregory L. Possehl spent parts of his academic life on archaeological digs in South Asia, but he also paid attention to the West Philadelphia neighborhood of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "One of the roles the University Museum plays is as a doorway for our neighbors to see what goes on at the University of Pennsylvania," Dr. Possehl explained in a 1985 Inquirer interview. Speaking of a Penn exhibit on the history of Buddhism meant in part to attract nonacademics, he noted: "This is an educational display that will be pretty, too, by the way. We don't mind being beautiful as long as we have our message." Dr. Possehl, 70, associate director of the University Museum from 1981 to 1992 and chairman of Penn's department of anthropology from 1994 to 2001, died of respiratory failure Saturday, Oct. 8, at Boston Medical Center. "Dr. Possehl was a leading expert on the rise of the Indus civilization in India and Pakistan," Penn biographical notes state. That ancient Indus society, researched at more than 2,000 archaeological sites along the Indus and Sarasvati Rivers, existed from 4300 to 1500 B.C. To help authenticate his studies, Dr. Possehl wrote on his website, he spent nine seasons on excavations of ancient sites in the Indian state of Gujarat. AltaMira Press published his book, The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. A 2004 Penn announcement reported that the work had been named Outstanding Academic Book for 2003 by Choice magazine, which Penn described as "the key publication for academic librarians across the nation selecting books for collections." He had published papers in several scholarly journals. Dr. Possehl went far afield to share his enthusiasms with nonacademic audiences. He was one of three lecturers on a 1981 trip to India sponsored by the Women's Committee of the Penn Museum and the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In a 1981 Inquirer Sunday magazine story reporting on the trip, Dr. Possehl told the reporter accompanying the lecturers that a certain ficus tree is considered sacred by Hindus because of its size. "Greg, who himself is quite large at 6-3, is also regarded as special because of his size," the reporter wrote. "When he strides through a village, people touch him for luck." Born in Tacoma, Wash., he earned a bachelor's degree in 1964 and a master's in 1967, both at the University of Washington, and a doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1974, all in anthropology. 13 April, 2012 ARS LIBRI 4 THE GREGORY L. POSSEHL LIBRARY Gregory Possehl From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gregory Louis Possehl (July 21, 1941 – October 8, 2011) was 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.[1] 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.[2] 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." Contents [hide] · 1 Articles · 2 Books · 3 Notes · 4 External links [edit] Articles His works include: · Possehl, Gregory L., 1967. The Mohenjo-daro floods: A reply. American Anthropologist 69: 32-40. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1974. Variation and change in the Indus Civilization: A study of prehistoric Gujarat with special reference to the post-urban Harappan. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago. x, 302 pp., ill. Revised version published in 1980 as "Indus Civilization in Saurashtra". · Dhavalikar, M. K., and Gregory L. Possehl, 1974. Subsistence pattern of an early farming community of western India. Puratattva (Bulletin of the Indian Archaeological Society) 7: 39-46. 13 April, 2012 ARS LIBRI 5 THE GREGORY L. POSSEHL LIBRARY · Possehl, Gregory L., 1975. The chronology of gabarbands and palas in western South Asia. Expedition 17 (2): 33-37. · Kennedy, Kenneth A.R., and Gregory L. Possehl (eds.), 1976. Ecological backgrounds of South Asian prehistory. Symposium convened at the seventy- second annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, December 2, 1973, New Orleans. (South Asia Occasional Papers and Theses, 4.) Ithaca NY: South Asia Program, Cornell University. 28 cm, vi, 236 pp., ill., maps. Pb · Possehl, Gregory L., 1976. Lothal: A gateway settlement of the Harappan Civilization. pp. 198–131 in: Kennedy, Kenneth A. R., and Gregory L. Possehl (eds.), Ecological backgrounds of South Asian prehistory. (South Asia Occasional Papers and Theses, 4.) Ithaca: South Asia Program, Cornell University. Reprinted, pp. 212–218 in: Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.) 1979. Ancient cities of the Indus. New Delhi. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1977. The end of a state and continuity of a tradition: A discussion of the Late Harappan. pp. 234–254 in: Fox, Richard G. (ed.), Realm and region in traditional India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. · Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.) 1979. ANCIENT CITIES OF THE INDUS. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press & New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. 27 cm, xv, 422 pp., 8 pl., ill. Hb ISBN 0890890935 & 0-7069-0781-7. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1979. Introduction. Pp. vii-xv in: Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.), Ancient cities of the Indus. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1979. Radiocarbon dates for the Indus Civilization and related sites. pp. 358–360 in: Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.), Ancient cities of the Indus. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1979. An extensive bibliography of the Indus Civilization including references cited in the text. pp. 361–422 in: Possehl, Gregory L., 1979. (Ed.) Ancient cities of the Indus. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1979. Pastoral nomadism in the Indus Civilization: An hypothesis. pp. 537–551 in: Taddei, Maurizio (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1977, vol. I. (Istituto Universitario Orientale, Seminario di Studi Asiatici, Series minor, 6: I.) Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, Seminario di Studi Asiatici. · Possehl, Gregory L., and Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, 1979. Hunter- gatherer/agriculturalist exchange in prehistory: An Indian example. Current Anthropology 20 (3): 592-593. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1980. INDUS CIVILIZATION IN SAURASHTRA. New Delhi: Published on behalf of Indian Archaeological Society by B.R. Publishing Corporation. 29 cm, xvi, 264 pp., ill., maps. Hb [Revised version of the author's Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, 1974.] 13 April, 2012 ARS LIBRI 6 THE GREGORY L. POSSEHL LIBRARY · Possehl, Gregory L., 1981. Cambay bead-making: An ancient craft in modern India. Expedition 23 (4): 39-46. · Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.) 1982. HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION: A CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. and American Institute of Indian Studies; Warminster: Aris & Phillips in cooperation with American Institute of Indian Studies. 28 cm xiii, 440 pp., 93 pl., maps. Hb · Possehl, Gregory L., 1982. The Harappan Civilization: A contemporary perspective. pp. 15–28 in: Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.), Harappan Civilization: A contemporary perspective. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1982. Discovering ancient India's earliest cities: The first phase of research. pp. 405–413 in: Possehl, Gregory L. (ed.), Harappan Civilization: A contemporary perspective. · Possehl. Gregory L., 1984. Archaeological terminology and the Harappan Civilization. pp. 27–36 in: Lal, B.B., and S.P. Gupta (eds.), Frontiers of the Indus Civilization: Sir Mortimer Wheeler Commemoration Volume. New Delhi: Indian Archaeological Society. · Kennedy, Kenneth A. R., and Gregory L. Possehl (eds.) 1984. STUDIES IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY OF SOUTH ASIA. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. and American Institute of Indian Studies. 25 cm, viii, 144 pp., ill., maps. · Lyons, Elizabeth, and Heather Peters, 1985. Buddhism: History and diversity of a great tradition. With contributions by Chang Ch'eng-mei & Gregory L. Possehl. Philadelphia: University Museum, University of Pennsylvania. 28 cm, 64 pp., ill., map. ISBN 0934718768. · Possehl, Gregory L., 1986. KULLI: AN EXPLORATION OF AN ANCIENT CIVILIZATION IN SOUTH ASIA. (Centers of Civilization, 1.) Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. 29 cm, viii, 168 pp., ill. Hb ISBN 0890891737. Possehl, Gregory L., 1986. African millets in South Asian prehistory. pp. 237–256 in: Jerome Jacobson (ed.), Studies in the archaeology of India and Pakistan. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. and American Institute of Indian Studies. Possehl, Gregory L., 1987-1988.