GHIRSHMAN, ROMAN

GHIRSHMAN, ROMAN (1895–1979), French archaeologist, specialist in Iranian studies. Ghirshman was born and educated in Paris. He had his first experience in excavation at Tello in Iraq in 1930. In 1931 he was sent to Iran as leader of an expedition and this was the beginning of a long series of successful excavations of important early settlements in Iran and Afghanistan. These included Tepe Giyan, Tepe Sialk, and Tchoga Zanbil in Elam. Ghirshman, who held a professorship at the University of Aix-en-Provence, was head of the French archaeological mission to Afghanistan from 1941 to 1943, and director of the Suse mission in Iran from 1946 to 1967. His numerous publications on Iranian art, history, and culture include Fouilles de Tépé Giyan 1931 et 1932 (with G. Contenau, 1935), Foullies de Sialk (2 vols., 1938–39), Iran: From the Earliest Times to the Islamic Conquest (1954), and Iran: From the Origins to Alexander the Great (1964). (Penuel P. Kahane)