Call Number:

1067

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives

Extent:

54.0 cubic feet (the collection consists of twelve records storage containers of correspondence, thirty-seven records storage containers of original notes and data, plus two file boxes of bibliographic cards and note cards. )

Language:

English

Date:

1980-1996 (bulk) and 1965-2005 (inclusive)

Creator:

Possehl, , Gregory L., Dr., b. 1941

Form:

Card catalogs, Correspondence, Field notes, Maps, and Photographs

Abstract:

Gregory L. Possehl, known for his discoveries in India and Pakistan, was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941 and studied at the University of Washington and the University of Chicago attaining his Ph.D.in anthropology from the latter in 1974. Possehl's field work in Pakistan and India explored the Harappan civilization who populated the Gujarat region of India including the sites of Rojdi, Oriyo Timbo, and Babar Kot from 2500 BC to 2000 BC. Possehl was funded for his work from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Possehl is also a noted professor at Penn in the Departments of Anthropology and Oriental Studies and a curator in the Asian section of the Penn Museum. He published award-winning books on the Harappan civilization and trained many future scholars in the field. The Gregory L. Possehl Indus Civilization papers are composed of twelve boxes of correspondence, a seven box visual archive of negatives, slides, photographs and drawings and twenty-three boxes of field data, notebooks, field cards, analysis, professional and publication material and correspondence related to the individual sites and years of the expeditions. There are two small file boxes of notes and a bibliography. Oversize maps, drawings and photographs are placed in eight drawers in the map case.

Gregory Possehl, known for his work in India and Pakistan, was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941. He attended the University of Washington, Seattle for both his Bachelor and Master's degrees in Anthropology. Possehl participated in archaeological work at Skaget City and the Marymoor site in King City, Washington during his early graduate years. His first visit to the Indus region was in 1965 for exploration sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History in the Quetta Valley of Eastern Pakistan. He became the director of the Quetta Prehistoric Project while completing his masters degree. In addition, Possehl participated in the excavations at Heirakonpolis in Egypt and in areas of Western India as a part of his Ph.D.work. Dr. Possehl accepted teaching positions at Vassar College for the 1972-1973 year and at the University of Pennsylvania beginning with the 1973-1974 year. Possehl completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1974.

In 1975, Possehl was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of South Asian Regional Studies at Penn with the additional responsibilities of an Assistant Curator at the Penn Museum. He held appointments in the departments of Anthropology and Oriental Studies along with his other duties. In 1986, Dr. Possehl was visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Named a full professor at Penn in 1989, Possehl also became a curator in the Asian section of the University Museum. Dr. Possehl began his investigation into urban culture in the Gujarat region of India in the early 1970s, a time devoted to his exploration of Harappan settlement patterns in the Bhavegar region of Gujarat. In 1978, he received a grant from the Smithsonian Institution for three months of research in northern India followed by additional funding to explore the Ghelo/Kalubhar valleys of the Gujarat region. Another grant funded his first season at Oriyo Timbo. Possehl also excavated at Babar Kat and Rojdi, the latter becoming the major site for his work. As Director of the Rojdi Project, Possehl excavated at this Bronze Age site to gather insights into the history of agriculture, trade and the adaptation of the Harappan civilization. Possehl returned to Rojdi from 1982 through 1995 with grants from the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution.

Possehl began publishing his work in 1967. He received numerous awards for his major publications including first prize from the Federation of Indian Publishers for Ancient Cities of the Indus and The President of India First Prize for Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective first published in 1982. The work at Rojdi produced Harappan Civilization and Rojdi in 1989. In 1993, Possehl published Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective. Additional findings were developed in the 2002 edition of Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. This volume was honored with the Choice Magazine award for Outstanding Academic Book in 2003.

In addition to his excavation, publishing, and academic work, Possehl, was a fellow of the Indo-U.S. Subcommittee for Education and Culture. He assisted and advised on the Archaeological Survey of India in cooperation with the National Museum of India and participated in many scholarly presentations and public lectures, including the "Reports from the Field" series at the Penn Museum.

In the mid 1990s, Possehl decided to end field work and donated his equipment to a group of physicians working with cyclone victims in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat. He was drawn back to the field by his colleague Vasant Shinde of Deccan College in India and participated in the Gilund Project beginning in 2002. This took him to Delhi, Pune, and the Gilund site in Rajasthan. In 2004, Dr.Possehl celebrated his fortieth year of archaeological research in India and Pakistan. Most recently, Possehl was a part of the team working at the UNESCO World Heritage site at Bat in the Sultanate of Oman.

Possehl has additional projects in the works. He hopes to write a mystery novel set in the Indus Valley as well as a history of the period from the first Afghan War (1837-1838) to the Great Indian Mutiny in 1857. Possehl is researching the life of Charles Masson for a biography. Dr. Possehl passed away in October 2011 while his collection was in process.

The Gregory L. Possehl Indus Civilization papers contain correspondence, notes, field data, photographs, drawings, and reports from his trips to Pakistan and the Gujarat region of India. Possehl excavated sites related to the Harappan civilization who populated the region from 2500 BC to 2000 BC. The Harappa were an urban civilization and Dr. Possehl's work explored their agriculture, trade, and adaptation. Possehl first traveled to Pakistan in 1965 then embarked on survey work in the Bhavnegar district of Gujarat, India in 1971. In 1980, he received a grant to pursue excavations in Oriyo Timbo, Gujarat in cooperation with the government of India and Indian scholars. The work lasted for one season but Possehl returned to Oriyo during the 1989-1990 season for additional excavation.

Possehl's major site was Rojdi and he commenced work there in 1982. Possehl returned to Rojdi throughout the 1980s and again during the 1992-1993, 1993-1994, and 1994-1995 seasons. In 1990, he received a grant to work at Babar Kot for one season.

Following some time devoted to teaching, Possehl was lured back to India by a colleague and commenced work in Gilund from 1999 to 2003. Possehl also participated in the Bat Restoration Project in 2006 and 2007. The records from these expeditions were made available to the museum archives following Dr. Possehl's death in October, 2011.

The collection contains forty-three records storage boxes of material including six smaller boxes of field cards. Two small file boxes hold another set of cards with reference and bibliographic lists. The first twelve boxes, numbered 1a through 12a, house correspondence that is divided into three groups by Possehl, professional, student, and museum. These divisions reflect Possehl's anthropological, teaching, and administrative positions with the University. It should be noted that in addition to the three groups designated by Possehl, he filed correspondence related to the expeditions in Gujarat, Rojdi, Oriyo, Babar Kot and Gilund with the field materials. This and other correspondence not placed in separate files by Possehl remain with the field material. Twenty-three records storage boxes hold the original notes, field cards, lot forms, pottery data, diagnostic and trench data, reports, and communication related to specific sites. Six of these boxes are smaller and hold the field cards from the early work in Gujarat. Possehl also compiled two file boxes of five by eight cards containing a bibliography and notes.

The Possehl visual archive fills six boxes. The formats include photographs, plans, and original drawings. There are negatives for the black and white and color slides and photographs. At the present time, they are filed with the visual material. The visual archive begins with records storage box twenty-four and continues to box twenty-nine. The slides are not yet included in this scope and content note.

Oversize materials are held in eight drawers in the map case. The collection of field material begins with box one containing material from the earlier years of Dr. Possehl's career including notebooks and diaries from Pakistan and early proposals for work in the Gujarat region. Correspondence specific to the Ghelo survey and the Kulli Monograph are a part of this series as well as as specific correspondence from the Gujarat Prehistoric Project. The original site forms from the Gujarat district and a key to their abbreviations provide valuable information to interpret the field cards from the region which are filed separately. Field notebooks from Possehl, Paul Rissman and G.W. Sheehan provide insight into daily activities. Additional folders hold climate and geographic data about the region of Gujarat and there are some site plans. Radiocarbon data and four years of Gujarat State Department of Archaeology Annual Reports: 1974-1975, 1975-1976, 1976-1977 and 1977-1978 are held for this group.

The Gujarat data includes loose pottery notes which are undated and relate to lot numbers 100 to 176. The field cards from the Gujarat sites are held in smaller boxes numbered eighteen to twenty-three. The field cards are from site 001, Vaharvo, in Bhanegar province; sites 002 to 006 in Bhanegar province; site 007, Prahladgodh; sites 008 to 026, Samadhiala II; sites 050 and 071 plus the "001 squares." The data relating to Dr. Possehl's work in Rojdi begins in Box two and continues to Box 10. This data is divided by season and reflects a pattern seen in the organization of data from his other sites that includes the proposal, correspondence, if present, notebooks from Dr. Possehl and those accompanying him during the season and specific field data. The field information usually includes lot forms, trench data, pottery information and various lists of finds with site-specific special information.

Dr. Possehl's arrangement of the data for each site are maintained in the succeeding boxes of data from Oriyo Timbo, 1981-1982 and 1989-1990; Babar Kot, 1990-1991; Lakheenjo-Daro, 1994-1997; Gilund, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001; and the Bat(Oman) Restoration Project, 2006-2007.

Following the expedition data is a series devoted to Dr. Possehl's involvement with professional organization and conferences in the field of archaeology and Indian studies. The titles reflect those of Dr. Possehl. The information includes correspondence with various organizations, conference schedules and some conference planning. Grouped with the professional organizations are reviews of Dr. Possehl's books and his contributions to the volumes edited by colleagues. There is a section of correspondence related to his career and consideration of other University employment and, specifically, his salary and tenure at the University of Pennsylvania.

The collection ephemera relates to small items kept by Dr. Possehl from his time in college, graduate school, teaching and his life in India and Pakistan. His University of Pennsylvania appointment calendar and the papers relating to the purchase and maintenance of the Land Rover used during the expeditions are highlights.

Personal items follow the ephemera and reflect Dr. Possehl's diplomas from the Universities of Washington and Chicago. His military career is represented in some detail and maintained long after this career ended. A few writings other than scholarly are contained with this series, namely poetry and a short story.

The Possehl Visual Archive is contained in boxes twenty-four through twenty-nine. When present, the negatives are filed with the photographs. There are two boxes holding the slides from the expeditions. These have not been processed.

The photographs are grouped by site and, whenever possible, chronologically. The collection begins with photographs from Pakistan and the Gujarat sites. These are followed by the Kulli Monograph and Kulli/Mehi pottery photographs. The pictures from Rojdi include views of the site, the pottery, and the crew from the 1982-1986, 1992-1993, and 1994-1995 seasons. There are five hard-bound index books to the Rojdi photographs. A group of photographs from Deccan College showing several of Dr. Possehl's colleagues from the area are part of the group of 1992-1993 photographs. The Babar Kot photographs from 1990-1991 contain views of small finds and the laboratory staff. Some of these pictures are large format. An index is present for the photographs from Lakheenjo-Daro; the 1993-1994 season. A group of conference photographs show colleagues in Soviet Georgia, Helsinki and Kyoto, among other sites.

The Gilund pictures of seals, small finds, the site and crew, and a group of portraits are duplicated on a CD which is placed in the first folder of pictures from that site. A number of photographs from other regions in India and Pakistan are held in individual folders following the Gilund group. With this group are folders containing visual information about subjects such as copper hoards, pottery phases, early Harappan pottery and the history of research illustrations, labeled by Dr. Possehl. With the photographs of early Harappan pottery is a letter from M.A Halim, Superintendent of Archaeology in Pakistan. The letter is dated 5/24/1977.

The photographs are followed by the original drawings. Again, these are placed in mostly chronological order and grouped by site. Whenever larger format drawings exist that are placed elsewhere, it is indicated. The plans and drawings begin with drawings from the Ghelo Kaluber survey, 1970-1971, followed by drawings of Kulli pottery on small pieces of paper. There are some smaller drawings of "unpublished" pottery from Oriyo Timbo with larger Oriyo pottery drawings held with the oversize materials. There are also small section drawings from Oriyo Timbo. Original drawings from Rojdi begin with the 1982 to 1986 seasons. This material includes artifact drawings, trench layouts, plans and pottery drawings. Kept with these drawings is a letter from the World Archaeological Congress(1994)with background information for the letter from the Executive Committee. The subjects of the Babar Kot drawings are mostly seals and seal impressions with one group labeled by Dr. Possehl as "the best seals." The last group of drawing folders hold drawings from the other areas of India and Pakistan represented in the photograph section of the visual archive.

The oversize materials consist of pottery drawings, trench and site drawings along with some memorabilia and are placed in folders in the map case. The drawings are grouped by location and type.