TEHRAN -- Youssef Majidzadeh, the Iranian archaeologist whose excavations in southeastern Iran brought renewed international attention to the region’s Bronze Age societies, died in France on Monday, aged 90, following a period of illness. 
His work at Konar Sandal, near Jiroft in Kerman Province, helped establish the archaeological significance of the Halil Rud basin and stimulated debate about the development of complex societies across ancient western Asia.
Born in Tabriz in 1936, Majidzadeh studied archaeology at the University of Tehran, graduating at the top of his class in 1965. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago, specializing in prehistoric archaeology and Mesopotamian civilization. 
Returning to Iran in 1976, he joined the University of Tehran’s Department of Archaeology and Art History as an assistant professor, becoming an associate professor the following year. His earlier fieldwork included investigations at Tepe Qabristan in the Qazvin Plain and the prehistoric site of Ozbaki.
Majidzadeh’s most influential work began in the Jiroft region in the early 2000s, following extensive looting of archaeological sites in the Halil Rud basin. Invited to lead investigations, he directed excavations at Konar Sandal North and South between 2002 and 2008. The 
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