Pierre Demargne () (8 February 1903 – 13 December 2000) was a French historian and archaeologist.

Biography

Pierre Demargne went to school at ''l'École normale supérieure'', where he took and passed the ''agrégation de lettres'' exam. He conducted his first research in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, more specifically in the south coast of Turkey. In 1951, he initiated a series of archaeological excavations (financed by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs) at the ancient capital of

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

Xanthos Xanthos ( Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', el, Ξάνθος, Latin: ''Xanthus'', Turkish: ''Ksantos'') was an ancient major city near present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey. The remains of Xanthos lie on a hill on the left ba ...

, which was occupied from the 7th century BCE by the

ns,

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and Byzantines for more than a thousand years. His discoveries from Xanthos, including monumental and funeral architecture and inscriptions, were a decisive step in our understanding of ancient Lycian civilization today. Pierre Demargne continued his research and publications into old age: from 1926, he was a member of the

French School at Athens The French School at Athens (french: École française d’Athènes, EfA; el, Γαλλική Σχολή Αθηνών ''Gallikí Scholí Athinón'') is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. History ...

; and from 1969 to his death, he was a member of the ''

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...

''. Overall, Pierre Demargne was a man of letters; however, he was also a fieldworker and renowned scientific expert, who was respected by the scientific community around the world. The majority of his career took place during a pivotal period in archaeological methods: from traditional archaeology, which was inspired from ancient texts and the hopes of finding treasure; to the more literary and artistic approaches of archaeology of the 17th and 18th centuries, which was inherited from the cabinets of curiosities; the archaeology of Pierre Demargne's time was changing to ever-increasing modern methodologies and tools and also (as budgets decreased) to more systematic and rigorous field methods.

Publications

* ''La Crète dédalique : études sur les origines d'une renaissance'' (1947) * ''Naissance de l'art grec'' (1974 ; 1985) {{DEFAULTSORT:Demargne, Pierre People from Aix-en-Provence 1903 births 2000 deaths French archaeologists École Normale Supérieure alumni University of Paris faculty University of Strasbourg faculty Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) 20th-century French historians Members of the French School at Athens Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 20th-century archaeologists