James Princep was a British archaeologist and epigraphist who made significant contributions to the field of Indian archaeology in the 19th century. He was one of the first Europeans to study the ancient script of India and was responsible for deciphering many of the inscriptions found at historical sites.
He joined the Bengal Engineers, East India Company in 1819 and served as an assistant to Alexander Cunningham, the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. He participated in the survey and excavation of the Buddhist stupas at Sanchi, Sarnath and Amaravati.
Princep was the first to decipher the Brahmi script of Ashoka's inscriptions and thus helped to establish the chronology of ancient India. He also deciphered many other ancient Indian scripts such as the Kharosthi and the Pali.
He was also interested in the study of ancient coins and made significant contributions to the field of numismatics. His works on Indian numismatics, "Numismatic Chronicle" is still considered as a valuable reference.
He retired in 1844 and died in 1857. James Princep's work laid the foundations for the study of ancient Indian epigraphy and numismatics and continues to be highly regarded by scholars today.