MARSHALL, SIR JOHN HUBERT

born March 19, 1876, Chester, Cheshire, Eng. died Aug. 17, 1958, Guildford, Surrey English director general of the Indian Archaeological Survey (190231) who in the 1920s was responsible for the large-scale excavations that revealed Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the two largest cities of the previously unknown Indus Valley Civilization. Marshall was educated at Dulwich College and at King's College, Cambridge. He took part in excavations on Crete under the auspices of the British School at Athens, where he studied from 1898 to 1901. Despite his youth, he was appointed director general of archaeology in India in 1902. Marshall reorganized the Indian Archaeological Survey and greatly expanded its scope of activity. Initially, his chief task was to save and conserve the standing Indian temples, sculptures, paintings, and other ancient remains, many of which had been long neglected and were in a sad state of decay. His energetic efforts resulted in the preservation of ancient buildings all over British India. In addition to monument conservation, Marshall presided over an ambitious program of excavation. He devoted much attention to the ancient region of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan, and particularly to the excavation of one of its principal cities, Taxila. Here were found vast quantities of jewelry and domestic artifacts that helped make possible a vivid reconstruction of ancient everyday life. Taxila (1951) is one of Marshall's most valuable works. The sites of Sanchi and Sarnath, important for their connection with the history of Buddhism, were also excavated and restored, and Marshall published The Monuments of Sanchi, 3 vol. (1939). Until the final 10 years of his directorship, virtually no attempt was made to examine Indo-Pakistani prehistoric remains. Then came the dramatic finds at Harappa (1921) and Mohenjo-daro (1922), in present-day Pakistan. The Indian Archaeological Survey's excavations of these and other sites revealed an ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 to 1750 BC over an area covering much of Pakistan and corners of India and Afghanistan. Eight years after his retirement, Marshall completed editing Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, 3 vol. (1931). He was knighted in 1914.