Frankfort, Henri

Frankfort, Henri (äNrē`), 1897–1954, American archaeologist, b. the Netherlands. He directed the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society (1925–29) and the Iraq expeditions (1929–37) of the Oriental Institute of the Univ. of Chicago at Tell Asmar and Khorsabad. From 1932 to 1949 he taught at the Oriental Institute, and in 1949 he was appointed director of the Warburg Institute of the Univ. of London. Frankfort became an American citizen in 1944. His writings include Ancient Egyptian Religion (1948), The Birth of Civilization in the Near East (1951), and The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (1954, rev. ed. 1958).