PERROT, JEAN°

PERROT, JEAN° (1920– ), French prehistorian. He studied in France and later in Palestine. In 1950 when Kol Zion la-Golah (overseas broadcasts from Jerusalem) was established, he headed the French department. Perrot was research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and from 1951 was head of the French archaeological mission to Israel. He excavated the remains of Chalcolithic culture at Tell Abu Matar in Beersheba (1952–60), Mesolithic and Natufian remains at Einan (1956–62), Neve Ur (1966), and Munhata (1962–67), a Chalcolithic cemetery at Azor, and various sites in the western Negev. He participated in the excavations of Tell al-Fāriʿa, Hazor, and Khirbat Minim. He published a series of excavation reports and studies on the early art and history of Ereẓ Israel. His work was directed toward the study of the evolution of civilizations from the fifth millennium onward that led to the rise of the great river valley cultures. He later extended his work to Iran and Turkey. (Michael Avi-Yonah)