René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalist,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, and

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

, the

Hurrians The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeaste ...

, the

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns and the Syriacs. He became curator of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities at the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and a member of the ''

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

''. One notable student was pioneering Jewish archaeologist Judith Marquet-Krause. Dussaud is known for his support for the theory of the origin of the

Semitic alphabet Alphabetic writingwhere letters generally correspond to individual sounds in a language (phonemes), as opposed to having symbols for syllables or wordswas likely invented once in human history. The Proto-Sinaitic script emerged during the 2nd m ...

and for him being the leader of the French excavations in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and one of the founders of the archaeology journal ''Syria''. He has been described as "a director of archaeological awareness".

Glozel controversy

In the late 1920s and at the time René Dussaud was curator at the Louvre, the Glozel affair was a subject of heated controversy. Claude and Émile Fradin who made the discovery of an underground chamber in March 1924 were accused by Dussaud in December 1927 of forgery, after reports suggested that the site with the exception of some pieces was fake. The Fradins filed lawsuit for defamation against Dussaud in January 1928, and Dussaud was convicted of defamation in a trial in 1932.

Bibliography

René Dussaud's books include: * ''La pénétration des Arabes en Syrie avant l'Islam''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1955) * ''Prélydiens hittites et achéens''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1953) * ''L'art phénicien du II^e millénaire''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1949) * ''Les religions des Hittites et des Hourrites des Phéniciens et des Syriens''. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1945; together with Édouard Dhorme's book ''Les religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie'') * ''Les découvertes de Ras Shamra (Ugarit) et l'Ancien Testament''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1941) * ''Mélanges syriens offerts à monsieur René Dussaud : secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1939) * ''La Syrie antique et médiévale illustrée''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1931) * ''Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1927) * ''Autour des Inscriptions de Glozel''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1927) * ''Les origines cananéennes du sacrifice israélite''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1921) * ''Le Cantique des cantiques : Essai de reconstitution des sources du poème à Salomon''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1919) * ''Introduction à l'histoire des religions''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1914) * ''Le Sacrifice en Israel et chez les Phéniciens''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1914) * ''Les civilisations préhelléniques dans le bassin de la mer Égée''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1914) * ''Conférences en 1912''. (Paris, 1912) * ''Les monuments Palestiniens et Judaïques (Moab, Judée, Philistie, Samarie, Galilée)''. (Paris, 1912) * ''Les civilisations préhelléniques dans le bassin de la mer Égée : études de protohistoire orientale''. (Paris: Geuthner, 1910) * ''Les Arabes en Syrie avant l'Islam''. (Paris, 1907) * ''Voyage archéologique au Ṣafâ et dans le Djebel ed-Drûz''. (Paris, 1901) * ''Voyage archéologique au Ṣafâ et dans le Djebel ed-Druz''. (Paris: Leroux, 1901) * ''Histoire et religion des Nosairîs''. (Paris: Bouillon, 1900)

References

External links

René Dussaud 1868–1958

René Dussaud obituary on volume 36 of ''Syria''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dussaud, Rene 1868 births 1958 deaths People from Neuilly-sur-Seine Epigraphers French archaeologists French curators French orientalists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Archaeologists of Phoenicia Corresponding fellows of the British Academy