Philip Kohl

Philip L. Kohl is an American anthropological archaeologist and professor emeritus at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. He is best known for his research on the prehistory of Central Asia and the Caucasus, particularly Bronze Age societies.

Kohl's scholarship examines the development of complex societies and interregional interaction in the Bronze Age ancient Near East and Central Asia. He is also well known for co-edititing the influential 1996 volume "Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology," a landmark critique of how states use the archaeological past.

His fieldwork and research concentrated on Central Asia and the Caucasus, including areas such as ancient Bactria and Margiana. He also wrote broadly on the wider Bronze Age world of the ancient Near East and its interconnections.

Kohl argued that archaeological interpretation is frequently distorted by nationalist agendas seeking to claim deep roots for modern nations. His critiques, notably in "Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology" (1996), helped make political uses of the past a central topic in the discipline.