Jean Perrot (10 June 1920 – 24 December 2012) was a French

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

who specialised in the late

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

Biography

Perrot was a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre where he studied under two experts in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n archaeology;

André Parrot André Charles Ulrich Parrot (15 February 1901 – 24 August 1980) was a French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and is best known for his work at Mari, Syria, where he led imp ...

and

René Dussaud René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalism, Orientalist, archaeology, archaeologist, and epigraphy, epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians a ...

. He went on to study at the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem in 1945. He researched a number of ancient sites in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, animating the research at international level. He first went to Iran in 1968, a year after the retirement of

Roman Ghirshman Roman Ghirshman (, ''Roman Mikhailovich Girshman''; October 3, 1895 – 5 September 1979) was a Ukrainian-born French archeologist who specialized in ancient Persia. Ghirshman spent nearly thirty years excavating ancient Persian archeologic ...

, to head the ''Delegation Archéologique Français'' (DAFI) and excavations of the country's ancient sites. He headed a multidisciplinary team in conjunction with the Iranian Centre of Archaeological Research, including experts from France, Iran and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

who continued studies until the revolution in 1979. He worked on sites such as

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

and Jafar Abad and took measures to safeguard the vestiges of the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

period (between the sixth and fourth century BC). His notable discoveries included ancient items such as the headless statue of Darius which is now housed in the

National Museum of Iran The National Museum of Iran ( ) in Tehran hosts some of the world's most important monuments dating back through preserved ancient and medieval Iranian antiquities. It is an institution formed of two museums; the Museum of Ancient Iran and the ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. In Israel Perrot excavated at Munhata, Ain Mallaha and the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

sites at Abu Matar and Bir es-Safadi near

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

, belonging to the so-called Beer Sheva culture. In 1952, Perrot founded the ''"Mission archéologique française"'', now called the French Research Center in Jerusalem; a joint research unit of the General Directorate for International Cooperation and Development and the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

. It is the CNRS's oldest foreign branch and became a permanent archaeological base in 1974. The current director since 1996 is Dominique Bourel. In 1973, Perrot founded the notable journal Paléorient with Bernard Vandermeersch along with the aid of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. In 1975, this became a publication of the CNRS. The journal is now published twice a year and distributed in twenty-two countries, it is recognized for presentations and discussions of research in all aspects of the

and

protohistory Protohistory is the period between prehistory and written history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures that have developed writing have noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in the ...

of the near and middle east. Perrot returned to France to become director of the

, which he joined in 1946 and for which he was an honorary research director and correspondent.

Selected bibliography

* Perrot, Jean., Et ils sortirent du paradis ... , carnets d'un archéologue en Orient, 1945–1995, Editions de Fallois, 334 pages, 1997. * Perrot, Jean., Le palais de Darius à Suse: une résidence royale sur la route de Persépolis à Babylone, Presses de l'université Paris-Sorbonne, 520 pages, 2010. * Perrot, J. and Y. Madjidzadeh, 2003 Découvertes récentes á Jiroft (sud du plateau Iranien), CRAIBL, pp. 1087–1102. * Perrot, Jean, Darius le Grand - Roi de Perse - Roi de Babylone – Rois des Rois – Pharaon d’Egypte (522-486 av. J.-C.), Dossiers d’Archéologie, hors série n° 23, janvier 2013, 78 pages.

References

External links

Paléorient Journal InformationJean Perrot bibliography
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110926233411/http://www.cnrs.fr/Cnrspresse/n386/html/en386a07.htm CNRS – French Research Center in Jerusaelembr>Le Palais de Darius à Suse: conférence de Jean Perrotlibrariedialogues.fr – Jean Perrot BiographyLa Revue pour l'histoire du CNRSGreat archeologist and researcher of Susa, Jean Perrot dies at age 92
at Tavoos Art Magazine site

Obituary in ''Mitekufat Haeven - Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society'', vol. 43 {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrot, Jean 1920 births 2012 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists French Iranologists École pratique des hautes études alumni People from Doubs Farabi International Award recipients Members of the American Philosophical Society Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research