Here are the various scientists and archaeologists acknowledging the quality of our work.
Francois Desset is a prominent young scholar who specialized in the protohistory of ancient Iran. He was a student of Serge Cleuziou, a dear friend missed by of all of us and probably the most brilliant and creative archaeologist of Middle Asia in the last decades. The ideas of Francois are an excellent mixture of innovation and pragmatism and free from prejudice ; his love for Iran and his ethical basis are beyond doubt.
Any support given to Ex Oriente Lux and to its projects will help the archaeology of ancient Iran to grow a little.
Dr. Desset is a first-rate excavator and scholar who has done exemplary work at a number of sites in southern and southwestern Iran. He has published a wide range of scholarly papers, on topics ranging from excavation results and comparative studies to profoundly original interpretative studies of several ancient writing systems. The three projects that Ex Oriente Lux is proposing to fund—the Eastern Fars project, the analysis of the chlorite artifacts from the Halil Rud and Carbon-14 dating of selected sites and strata in south and southwestern Iran—are scientifically practical and fundamentally important.
Individually and together, the results of these projects will advance our understanding of the evolution of regional social complexity and clarify the role of southern Iranian centers and populations in the ebb and flow of Middle Eastern history. His vision deserves our support.
I know personally Dr. Francois Desset and think that his initiative is more than welcome today. EX ORIENTE LUX must be considered as a tool to fund serious archaeological projects in the Near East. Properly funded, these projects will for sure improve our knowledge and contribute to a better understanding of an area fundamental in the history of human societies.
I grant my full support to EX ORIENTE LUX and its projects.
The archaeology of Iran is a vast subject and, in spite of over 150 years of sporadic excavation, one that desperately needs further research. EX ORIENTE LUX aims to help connect scholars and the interested public, and promises to facilitate the next generation of research in this critically important part of the ancient world.
I fully support the initiative and recommend it to all who are interested in Iran’s fascinating past.
As a member of the thesis jury of François Desset, I know for several years his work and fully support today his initiative. In the current context of budgetary restrictions affecting most of the research institutions worldwide, EX ORIENTE LUX is meant to be a tool to fund archaeological projects in the Near East and to contribute to the knowledge of this very crucial area in the evolution of human societies.
Ex Oriente Lux is an excellent initiative that has the potential to greatly advance our understanding of Iranian archaeology and will also bring knowledge of ancient Iran to a broader audience.
In a period where much of the news coming from the region is a source for despair, this association is an important and positive step in the right direction, and has my strongest support.
