The US pays tribute to the late Iranian scholar and founder of Iran’s modern archeology, Professor Ezzatollah Negahban in Pennsylvania.
Professor Negahban died of Parkinson’s at South Seminole Hospital near Orlando on Feb. 1, 2009.
A graduate of the archaeology department at Tehran University, the US-based scientist earned his master’s degree in archaeology from the University of Chicago in 1954.
In 1996 he received “a national heritage prize, the highest honor you can give a cultural figure in Iran,” The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Negahban’s son as saying.
Negahban founded the Institute of Archaeology at Tehran University, which he directed until 1979. He also served as the chairman of the Archaeology Department from 1967 to 1978 and the dean of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities from 1975 to 1979.
He conducted comprehensive studies in numerous Iranian archeological sites including Zagheh Hill, Marlik Cemetery, Qazvin Plain and Haft-Tappeh. A large pat of his reports, photos, books and notes have been donated to Tehran University.
Negahban discovered the largest amount of gold during excavations in Iran and his efforts to regulate archeological affairs greatly decreased the number of illegal excavations in the country.
