Gregory Louis Possehl (July 21, 1941 – October 8, 2011) was a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, United States, and curator of the Asian Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
He 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 was 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 wrote 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.
"[citation needed] His works include: Indian Archaeological Society.
With contributions from Y. M. Chitalwala et al. Leiden and New York: E. J. Brill; New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt.
The Sorath Harappan: A new regional manifestation of the Indus urban phase.
Roma: Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
With contributions from Gregory L. Possehl et al. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt.
The chronology of prehistoric India: From earliest times to the Iron Age.
Ltd. and American Institute of Indian Studies; New York: International Science Publisher (1993).
Toymakers and trade: A notice of early twentieth century commerce between Philadelphia and India.
London: Kegan Paul International in association with the British Museum.
193–244 in: Dalfes, H. Nüzhet, George Kukla and Harvey Weiss (eds.
(NATO ASI, Series 1: Global Environment Change, vol.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; New Delhi: Oxford IBH Publishing Co. Pvt.
The date of the Surkotada cemetery: A reassessment in light of recent archaeological work in Gujarat.
Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust; New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt.
), Arabia and its neighbours: Essays on prehistorical and historical developments presented in honour of Beatric de Cardi.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt.
Reviewed: Asko Parpola, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 3 Dec 1999, p. 24.
(MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, University Museum Monograph, volume 16.)
Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 60–61: 227–241, 10 figs.
Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 60–61: 243–251, 2 figs.
Fifty years of Harappan archaeology: The study of the Indus Civilization since Indian independence.
Peregrine and M. Ember, eds., Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia.
Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University.
Possehl, Gregory L., 2010. Review of: Parpola, Asko, B. M. Pande and Petteri Koskikallio (eds.
Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions, Volume 3: New material, untraced objects, and collections outside India and Pakistan.
(Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Humaniora 359; Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No.