Michael Douglas Roaf (born 20 May 1947) is a British

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, ...

specialising in ancient

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

and

Assyriology Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...

. Roaf studied the archaeology of Western Asia at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, and wrote his doctoral thesis, ''Sculptures and Sculptors at Persepolis'' (published 1983) at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. From 1981 to 1985 he was the director of the

British School of Archaeology in Iraq The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI) (formerly the British School of Archaeology in Iraq) is the only body in Britain devoted to research into the ancient civilizations and languages of Mesopotamia. It was founded in 1932 and its aim ...

. He also taught at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and is currently Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. Roaf has conducted fieldwork in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Bahrain. In Iran he dug at Tepe Nush-i Jan under the direction of

David Stronach David Brian Stronach (10 June 1931 – 27 June 2020) was a Scottish archaeologist of ancient Iran and Iraq who became an expert on the city of Pasargadae and an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Born in June 1931, S ...

, with whom he wrote ''Nush-i Jan I. The Major Buildings of the Median Settlement''. With the Munich University team, he has recently worked on the archaeological expeditions at Gircano and Ziyaret Tepe, ancient

Tushhan Tushhan (alternatively spelled as Tushan or Tušḫan) was a Neo-Assyrian provincial capital in the upper Tigris region. It was rebuilt by the ruler Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) and survived until the end of the Neo-Assyrian period around 611 ...

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 ...

Works

* ''Sculptures and Sculptors at Persepolis'' (1983) - doctoral thesis. Published in full in ''Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies'' vol. XXI, 1983. * ''The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East'' (1990) - divulgation. * ''Continuity of Empire (?): Assyria, Media, Persia'' (2003) - Proceedings of the International Meeting held in Padova, 2001; ed. with Giovanni B. Lanfranchi and

Robert Rollinger Robert Rollinger (born 17 September 1964 in Bludenz, Austria) is an ancient historian and Assyriologist, known for his works on Herodotus, the Persian-Achaemenid Empire, ancient empires and cross-cultural encountering in the ancient world. He is a ...

References

External links

The World of Achaemenid Persia
British archaeologists English Assyriologists British Iranologists Alumni of University College London University of California, Berkeley faculty Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Living people 1947 births {{UK-archaeologist-stub