John Marshall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1876-03-19)19 March 1876 |
| Died | 17 August 1958(1958-08-17) (aged 82) |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Excavations inHarappa,Mohenjodaro,Sanchi,Sarnath,Taxila,Crete, andKnossos |
| Awards | CIE Knighthood FBA |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | History,archaeology |
| Institutions | Archaeological Survey of India |
Sir John Hubert MarshallCIE FBA (19 March 1876,Chester, England – 17 August 1958,Guildford, England) was an Englisharchaeologist who was Director-General of theArchaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928.[1] He oversaw the excavations ofHarappa andMohenjo Daro, two of the main cities that comprise theIndus Valley Civilisation.
Marshall was at school atDulwich College beforeKing's College, Cambridge,[2] where in 1898 he won thePorson Prize.[3] He then trained inarchaeology atKnossos underSir Arthur Evans, who was rediscovering the Bronze AgeMinoan civilization.[4] Under the sponsorship of theBritish School in Athens, where he attended from 1898 to 1901, he participated in excavations.[5]
In 1902, the newviceroy of India,Lord Curzon, appointed Marshall as Director-General of Archaeology within theBritish Indian administration. Marshall modernised the approach to archaeology on that continent, introducing a programme of cataloguing and conservation of ancient monuments and artifacts.[6]
Marshall began the practice of allowing Indians to train as archaeologists and superviseexcavation.[7] Most of his students were Indian, and so, Marshall gained a reputation for being very sympathetic to Indian nationalism. Marshall agreed with Indian civic leaders and protesters who wanted more self-government, or even independence for India. Marshall was highly admired by Indians during the time he worked in India. In 1913, he began theexcavations at Taxila, which lasted for 21 years.[8] In 1918, he laid the foundation stone for theTaxila Museum, which today hosts many artifacts and one of Marshall's few portraits. He then moved on to other sites, including theBuddhist centres ofSanchi andSarnath.
His work provided evidence of the antiquity of Indian civilisation, particularly that of theIndus Valley civilization and theMauryan age (Ashoka's Age). In 1920, Marshall initiated at the dig atHarappa withDaya Ram Sahni as director. Mohenjodaro was discovered byR. D. Banerji in 1921, and in 1922, work began there.
After his appointment, Marshall engaged in constant resource disputes with the Indian government because he felt that the Archaeological Survey of India needed to be revived and that Indian archaeology needed to be overhauled.[9] By using the big finds in 1923 to gain more funding, he avoided a large budget decrease in 1922–1923 that would have endangered excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.
The results of these efforts, which revealed an ancient culture with its own writing system, were published in theIllustrated London News on 20 September 1924.[10] Scholars linked the artifacts with the ancient civilisation ofSumer in Mesopotamia. Subsequent excavation showed Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro to be sophisticatedplanned cities withplumbing andbaths.[11] But Marshall ignored thestratigraphy of the site, and excavated along regular horizontal lines. This mixed up the artifacts from different stratigraphic layers, causing much valuable information about thecontext of his findings to be lost forever. This mistake was corrected byMortimer (R. E. M.) Wheeler, who recognised that it was necessary to follow the stratigraphy of the mound rather than dig mechanically along uniform horizontal lines. Also a military precision was brought to archeology by Wheeler.[12]
Marshall also led excavations at the prehistoricSohr Damb mound near Nal inBaluchistan; a small representative collection of pottery vessels from the site is now in theBritish Museum.[13]
Marshall retired from his post in 1934 and then departed India. He died on 17 August 1958, at his home inGuildford, Surrey, some 28 miles southwest of London.[14][15]
On 22 March 2025, his statue was unveiled inChennai, Tamil Nadu. Chief MinisterM. K. Stalin hailed Marshall and added that he "discovered and announced the #IndusValleyCivilisation to the world, opened a new chapter in Indian archaeology".[16]
Marshall was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Indian Empire(CIE) in June 1910[17] andknighted in January 1914.[18] He was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Philosophy, byCalcutta University in 1921.[19] He was elected as a Fellow of theBritish Academy in 1936.
Source:[20]
| Preceded by | Director General of theArchaeological Survey of India 1902 - 1928 | Succeeded by |
