Behnam Nasser Nuaman Abu Alsoof ( ar, بهنام ناصر نعمان أبو الصوف ') (born 1931 in

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, died September 19, 2012) was an Iraqi

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

, historian and writer. He was born in

to a Christian Syriac family. He completed his elementary and junior high in the city of Mosul. He earned a BA in Archaeology and Civilization from the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

in 1955. He completed graduate studies at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and received his doctorate degree in Archaeology and the nucleus of civilization and anthropology in the autumn of 1966. He worked on scientific rescue excavations on a wide basin in the

Hamrin Dam The Hemrin Dam is a dam on the Diyala River 100 km northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The main purpose of the dam is flood control, irrigation and hydroelectric generation. Its power station has a 50 MW capacity. The dam and the attached power hous ...

(in

Diyala Governorate Diyala Governorate ( ar, محافظة ديالى ) or Diyala Province is a governorate in central-eastern Iraq. Provincial government *Governor: Muthana al-Timimi *Deputy Governor: Mohammed Jassim al-Jubouri Council Geography Diyala Gov ...

), and

Mosul Dam Mosul Dam ( ar, سد الموصل), formerly known as Saddam Dam (), is the largest dam in Iraq. It is located on the Tigris river in the western governorate of Nineveh, upstream of the city of Mosul. The dam serves to generate hydroelectricity ...

on the

Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...

in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. He revealed several archaeological sites in Iraq, including Tell es-Sawwan in

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...

Saladin Governorate The Saladin or Salah Al-Din Governorate ( ar, محافظة صلاح الدين) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with t ...

, which was from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. He also led his work at the site of Qainj Agha near Erbil Castle to detect a wide range of archaeological evidence from the

Uruk period The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...

. He lectured for many years at the roots of material civilization, archeology, and history in a number of Iraq's universities and the Institute of Arab history for Graduate Studies. He wrote several books, including ''Pottery of Uruk Period: Origins and Spread'' (English language), ''The Shadow of the Ancient Valley'' (Arabic language), and ''Iraq: The Unity of the Earth, Civilization and Human'' (Arabic language). He died on September 19, 2012 in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

at the age of eighty due to a heart attack. Behnam Abu Alsoof opposed the idea of

Assyrian identity Assyrian nationalism is a movement of the Assyrian people that advocates for independence or autonomy within the regions they inhabit in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. The Assyrian people claim d ...

and that Syriac Christians are not descendants of ancient Assyrians, instead promoting the idea they are

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

Nestorians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

.Modern Athorees (Nestorian Arameans) and their relation to Assyrians, people of Anceint Iraq
Archived from http://www.abualsoof.com

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control 1931 births 2012 deaths Writers from Mosul Iraqi anthropologists 20th-century Iraqi historians Iraqi archaeologists Iraqi bloggers Iraqi Christians University of Baghdad alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Assyriologists Iraqi Assyriologists

See also

References

External links