Sir Max (Edger Lucien) Mallowan was born in 1904 and passed away in 1978. He was born in London, England and studied classics at Oxford. He first worked as an apprentice to Leonard Woolley at the archaeological site of Ur (1925-31), which was thought to be the capital of Mesopotamian Civilization. Later on in Mallowan's career, he was given the opportunity to excavate at the archeological site Nimrud; the excavation turned out to be one of his more famous digs. Many precious ivories and ancient treaties were recovered during the eleven year excavation.
While working for the British museum, Mallowan also excavated on several relatively known archaeological sites which included: Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar, and Tell Brak. From there he went to London University were he was a Professor of West Asiatic Archaeology (1942-1960). He also served as the director of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq from 1947-1961.
Sir Max Mallowan wrote a few books in his time which include his autobiography, Mallowan’s Memoirs (1977), and Twenty-five Years of Mesopotamian Discovery (1956). His wife Agatha Christie also wrote the book Come, Tell Me How You Live in 1946 on the account of his excavations in Syria.
References:
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/middle_east/ur.html
http://www.biography.com/search/article.jsp?aid=9396534&search=Sir+Max+Mallowan
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/m/mallowan.asp
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050354
George G. Cameron. The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 42, No. 3. (Summer, 1979), pp. 180-183.
Written by Greg Kuehl
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007