Ezat O. Negahban, 82, Iranian archaeology scholar

On a spring morning in 1978, a year before the Iranian Islamic revolution, Ezat O. Negahban was stabbed repeatedly by the shah's secret police as he entered the University of Tehran, where he was dean of the faculty of letters and humanities.

After a taxi got him to a hospital, doctors found he had bled so badly that he had no blood pressure, and they had to determine his blood type by what was caked to his clothes. For a year, he lost the use of his left arm because a nerve had been cut.

Mr. Negahban retired that year, but it wasn't until 1980 that he moved to Philadelphia, because the Iran-Iraq war had closed their borders during his visit to Europe.

History gives its rewards slowly.

In 1996, his son Bahman said, the Islamic republic bestowed on Mr. Negahban "a national heritage prize, the highest honor you can give a cultural figure in Iran."

On Feb. 2, Mr. Negahban, 82, former archaeology department chairman at the University of Tehran and a visiting curator from 1980 to 2001 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, died of Parkinson's disease at South Seminole Hospital near Orlando, Fla. He lived in Wynnefield.

His son called him the father of modern Iranian archaeology, in part because he raised its standards to match those of foreign expeditions.

A gold bull that Mr. Negahban found on one of his first excavations in 1961-62 is now pictured on Iranian currency, the 500-rial note. The bull, his son said, was among many pieces that Mr. Negahban found at a royal cemetery dating to 1400 B.C., at Tepe Marlik, near the Caspian Sea.

"He was the first Iranian who had the scientific training to do archaeology on his own," his son said.

Mr. Negahban was attacked on that morning in 1978, his son said, after the shah's representatives "asked him to fire a professor . . . because they thought of her as a leftist or agitator."

"And he refused to do it, and a few days later he was mugged by six men wearing stockings over their faces."

Mr. Negahban was sure enough of his stature that he returned to Iran in 1983 to stand trial before those who had overthrown the shah's government.

"Our house and other property had been confiscated," his son said. "He was one of the first who stood trial in Islamic court to clear his name. And he was successful. His property was returned to him."

Each year or so, Mr. Negahban returned to work with Iranian archaeologists, his son said.

Born in Ahvaz, Iran, Mr. Negahban grew up in Tehran, where his father was a member of the parliament. He completed his high school work at the German Technical School there.

A 1948 graduate of the archaeology department at Tehran University, he attended the University of Michigan for English-language study in 1949 and earned his master's degree in archaeology from the University of Chicago in 1954.

A year later, he was named associate professor in the archaeology department at Tehran University. He was promoted to full professor in 1962, was department chairman from 1967 to 1978, and was the dean of the faculty of letters and humanities from 1975 to 1979.

In 1959, he founded the Institute of Archaeology at the university, and he served as its director until 1979.

At Penn, Mr. Negahban spent his years writing half a dozen books based on his earlier research.

Besides his son Bahman, Mr. Negahban is survived by his wife, Miriam; sons Mehrdad, Babak and Daryush; six grandchildren; an adopted son, Ali, and his two sons; and a step-granddaughter. His son Bijan died in 1959.

A memorial service was set for 1 to 4 p.m. tomorrow at the Foundation for Islamic Education, 1860 Montgomery Ave., Villanova. A graveside service took place Feb. 4 in Whitemarsh Memorial Park, Prospectville.

Memorial donations may be made to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South St., Philadelphia 19104.