TEHRAN — Ismail Yaghmaei, one of Iran’s most respected archaeologists and a leading figure of the country’s field research tradition, was buried on Wednesday in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, bringing to a close the life of a scholar who spent more than half a century uncovering, documenting and protecting Iran’s ancient heritage.
Yaghmaei’s funeral was attended by family members, colleagues, former students and admirers of his work. His remains were laid to rest in the family grave at section 320, row 62, number 8, beside his only son, Mehrdad.
The veteran archaeologist died on Sunday, July 19, after suffering a stroke and spending several days in a coma at Tehran’s Moheb Yas Hospital. He was 85.
Born in Tehran on September 18, 1941, Yaghmaei studied archaeology and art history at the University of Tehran, where he completed his higher education in the field. In 1967, he joined Iran’s national archaeology department, beginning a professional career that would make him one of the most influential researchers of Iran’s ancient past.
For Yaghmaei, history was not merely a collection of written records; it was a vast landscape of forgotten human experiences buried beneath layers of soil and time. Armed with a field notebook, analytical mind and a lifelong devotion to Iran’s cultural heritage, he spent decades exploring archaeological sites across the country in search of evidence that could illuminate earlier civilizations.
Throughout his career, he participated
 in or led numerous archaeological excavations and surveys in provinces including Khuzestan, Fars, Bushehr, Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan, Tehran and beyond. His work contributed significantly to the understanding of Iran’s ancient societies, from the Elamite and Achaemenid periods to later historical eras.
Among the most notable sites associated with his career were Haft Tappeh, Susa, Shahr-e Sukhteh (the Burnt City), Chogha Gavaneh in Islamabad-e Gharb, and the ancient site of Arjan in Khuzestan. His research helped reveal new dimensions of Iran’s cultural and political history.
One of his landmark projects was the excavation of Bardak-e Siyah, an Achaemenid palace in the Dashtestan region of Bushehr. The discovery provided further evidence that Achaemenid influence extended far beyond the better-known centers of Persepolis and Susa, highlighting the importance of southern Iran within the empire’s administrative network.
Yaghmaei also played an important role in excavations at Qalaichi in Bukan, West Azerbaijan, a site that transformed understanding of the Mannaean civilization and the significance of northwestern Iran during the first millennium BC.
Beyond excavation, Yaghmaei left behind a rich written legacy. His books, including Susa: Archaeological Excavations in the Fifteenth City of the Middle Elamite Period, A Thousand-Year-Old Hair: Fragments of an Archaeologist’s Memories, and That Palace Where Jamshid…: A Study of the Origins of Persepolis, preserved both his scholarly findings and personal reflections from decades spent in the field.
He was also remembered as a passionate defender of cultural heritage. In 2013, nearly three decades after his archaeological work in a historic Elamite site near Behbahan in Khuzestan, he returned to the area and was devastated by the destruction he witnessed. The moment became symbolic of his lifelong commitment to protecting Iran’s endangered archaeological legacy.