A Dutch-American archaeologist who completed a well-documented reconstruction of Early Dynastic Mesopotamian culture, established the relation between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and discovered much new information on both civilizations. A historian, he worked at Abydos, Amarna, Armant in Egypt and in Iraq as head of the University of Chicago's Diyala project. He published important works on pottery and cylinder seals as well as a study of kingship, religious attitudes, and art in western Asia and Egypt.