The Rojdi Project
Gregory L. Possehl

I am Director of the excavations at Rojdi in cooperation with the Gujarat State Department of Archaeology, India. This is a multidisciplinary project exploring the site of Rojdi, a regional center of the Harappan Civilization for seven seasons of excavation since 1982.

There are three principal contributions of the Rojdi Project to our understanding of the Harappan Civilization generally and the Harappans in Saurashtra.. The long series of radiocarbon dates from the site has redefined the regional chronology. The large collection of palaeobotanical materials has given us our first insight into the ancient Saurashtran subsistence system, which was very different from that in Sindh and the Punjab, where Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are located. The collection has also played a role in the understanding of the integration of African millets into the ancient India agricultural system.. The final period of occupation at Rojdi took place from ca. 2000-1700 B.C., just as Mohenjo-daro and many other sites to the north were being abandoned which seems to tell us that the so-called "eclipse" of the Harappan Civilization was a much different process from the one generally presented in text books.

Bibliography on Rojdi

Click on highlighted titles for more information!

Agrawal, D. P., Sheela Kusumgar and D. Lal
1965. Tata Institute radiocarbon date list III. Radiocarbon, 7: 291-95.

Bhowmik, S. K.
1969. A technological study of copper articles discovered at Rojdi. Bulletin of the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery, 21: 61-74.

Bhowmik, S. K.
1972. Early Copper and Bronze Technology of Gujarat. PhD Dissertation, Department of Archaeology and Ancient Indian History, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

Bhowmik, S. K.
1976. Chalcolithic protohistoric period copper metallurgy of Gujarat: A preliminary survey. Bulletin of the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery, 25: 37-53.

Chitalwala, Y. M.
1987. Gujarats Harappan settlements. The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, May: 20-7.

Chitalwala, Y. M.
1989. The small finds. In, Gregory L. Possehl and M. H. Raval, Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Delhi: Oxfrod & IBH for the American Institute of Indian Studies: 157-70.

Fairservis, Walter A., Jr.
1990. Review Article: Gregory L. Possehl and M. H. Raval, Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 111(1): 108-13.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1957-58 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Surevy of India: 18-23.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1958-59 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 19-21.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1962-63 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 8.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1964-65 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 12.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1982-83 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 28.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1983-84 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 19-20.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1984-85 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 18.

Indian Archaeology, A Review
1985-86 Excavations at Rojdi. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India: 19.

Kane, Victoria Stack
1989. Animal remains from Rojdi. In, Gregory L. Possehl and M. H. Raval, Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: 182-84.

Possehl, Gregory L.
1986. Rojdi: the investigation of a prehistoric town in India. American Journal of Archaeology, 90: 467-68.

Possehl, Gregory L.
1991. A house of the Harappan Post-urban Phase: structures I and IV at Rojdi. In, C. Margabandhu, K. S. Ramachandran, A. P. Sagar and D. K. Sinha, eds., Indian Archaeological Heritage: Shri K. V. Soundara Rajan festschrif. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan: 113-21.

Possehl, Gregory L. and Charles Frank Herman
1990. The Sorath Harappan: a new regional manifestation of the Indus Urban Phase. In, Maurizio Taddei, ed., South Asian Archaeology 1987. Roma: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Serie Orientale Roma, 66(1): 295-320.

Possehl, Gregory L. and Dinker P. Mehta
1994. Excavations at Rojdi 1992-93. In, Asko Parpola and Petteri Koskikallio, eds., South Asian Archaeology 1993. 2 Vols. Helsinki: Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Series B, Volume 271: 603-14.

Possehl, Gregory L. and M. H. Raval
1989. Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: 197 pp.

Possehl, Gregory L. and M. H. Raval
1990. A tale of two seals. Ancient Ceylon, 7: 157-63.

Possehl, Gregory L., Y. M. Chitalwala, Paul C. Rissman and Gail E. Wagner
1984. Excavations at Rojdi: 1982-83. Puratattva, 13-14: 155-63.

Possehl, Gregory L., Y. M. Chitalwala, Paul C. Rissman, Gail E. Wagner, Pamela Crabtree and Julia Longenecker
1985. Preliminary report on the second season of excavations at Rojdi: 1983-84. Man and Environment, 9: 80-100.

Rissman, Paul C.
1986. Seasonal aspects of man/cattle interaction in Bronze Age western India. Journal of Ethnobiology, 6(2): 257-77.

Stack-Kane, Victoria
1989. Animal remains from Rojdi. In, Gregory L. Possehl and M. H. Raval, Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Delhi: Oxford & IBH: 182-84.

Wagner, Gail E.
1982 Testing flotation recovery techniques. American Antiquity, 47(1): 127-32.

Weber, Steven A.
1989. Plants and Harappan Subsistence: An example of stability and change from Rojdi. PhD Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of : 464 pp.

Weber, Steven A.
1990. Millets in South Asia: Rojdi as a case study. In, Maurizio Taddei, ed., South Asian Archaeology 1987. Roma: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Serie Orientale Roma, 66(1): 333-48.

Weber, Steven A.
1991. Plants and Harappan Subsistence: An example of stability and change from Rojdi. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies.

Weber, Steven A.
1992b. Food stress in South Asia: an explanation for culture change? In, Gregory L. Possehl, ed., South Asian Archaeology Studies. Delhi: Oxford & IBH: 253-60.

Weber, Steven A.
1993. Changes in plant use at Rojdi: implications for early South Asian subsistence systems. In, Gregory L. Possehl, ed., Harappan Civilization: A recent perspective. 2nd ed. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: 287-93.

Weber, Steven A. and Vishnu-Mittre
1989. Palaeobotanical research at Rojdi. In, Gregory L. Possehl and M. H. Raval, Harappan Civilization and Rojdi. Delhi: Oxford & IBH and the American Institute of Indian Studies: 177-81.






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