George F. Dales

George F. Dales, Jr. was an archaeologist who researched ancient Indus River Valley civilizations. He was born in Akron, Ohio in 1927 and received his bachelor's degree in classical studies in 1953 from the University of Akron. In 1960, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied history, art, and archaeology of the Middle East as well as cuneiform writing. His PhD dissertation was Mesopotamian and Related Female Figurines: Their Chronology, Diffusion and Cultural Functions.

From 1961-1963 Dales was a special lecturer at the University of Toronto. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania as Assistant (1963-66) and Associate (1966-72) Curator of South Asian collections at the University Museum as well as Assistant and Associate Professor in South Asia Regional Studies. In 1972, Dales joined the faculty of Middle Eastern studies at Berkeley; in 1979 he joined the department of South and Southeast Asian studies, also at Berkeley.

Dales spent 30 seasons at archaeological sites, starting in Nippur in southern Iraq (1957). Other sites he explored include Mohenjo Daro and Balakot, and since 1985 Dales directed the Harappa Archaeological Project, involving various universities and institutions.

Dales published more than 80 articles and monographs. His publications include Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan: The Pottery (1986) His last work, Explorations on the Makran coast, Pakistan: A search for paradise, published posthumously by the Archaeological Research Facility of the University of California, Berkeley in 1992 was an illustrated journal account of his 1960 survey of the Makran coast of Pakistan.

Sources: New York Times . Obituaries. April 24, 1992. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/24/us/george-f-dales-jr-is-dead-at-64-archeologist-studied-indus-ruins.html "George F. Dales". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_F._Dales

From the guide to the Dales, George F. (1927-1992) Papers, 1961-1980, bulk, (Peabody Museum Archives, Harvard University)