View source for Max Mallowan

{{Short description|British archaeologist (1904–1978)}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix=[[Sir]]
| name              = Max Mallowan
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FBA|FSA}}
| image             = Agatha Christie and Max Mallowan in  1950.png
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Mallowan and [[Agatha Christie]] in 1950
| birth_name        = Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1904|05|06}}
| birth_place       = [[Wandsworth]], [[London]], England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1978|08|19|1904|05|06|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Greenway Estate|Greenway]], [[Devon]], England
| resting_place     = Church of St Mary, [[Cholsey]], Oxfordshire, England
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| other_names       = 
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| fields            = [[Archaeologist]]
| workplaces        = [[University of London]]<br />[[All Souls College, Oxford]]
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| alma_mater        = [[New College, Oxford]]
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* {{marriage|[[Agatha Christie]]|1930|1976|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[Barbara Hastings Parker]]|1977}}
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'''Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|size=100%|CBE|FBA|FSA}} (6 May 1904 – 19 August 1978) was a prominent British [[Archaeology|archaeologist]] and academic, specializing in the [[Ancient Near East]]. Having studied classics at Oxford University, he was trained for archaeology by [[Leonard Woolley]] at [[Ur]] and [[Reginald Campbell Thompson]] at [[Nineveh]]. He then directed a number of archaeological expeditions sponsored by the [[British Museum]] and the [[British School of Archaeology in Iraq]]. He was the second husband of [[Agatha Christie]], having met her during the excavation at Ur in 1930. He served in the [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]] during the [[Second World War]], and then entered academia. He was Professor of Western Asiatic Archaeology at the [[University of London]] (1947–1962) and a [[Fellow (Oxbridge)|fellow]] of [[All Souls College, Oxford]] (1962–1971).

==Early life and education==
Born Edgar Mallowan on 6 May 1904 in [[Wandsworth]], London, England,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=X%2FBgKHlbCh8EpgSzBDoLGQ&scan=1|title=FreeBMD Entry Info}}</ref> to Frederick Mallowan, a businessman who had served with the Austrian horse artillery, and his wife Marguerite (née Duvivier), whose mother was mezzo-soprano singer [[Marthe Duvivier]].<ref name="McCall2001">{{cite book|author=Henrietta McCall|title=The life of Max Mallowan: archaeology and Agatha Christie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dK8WAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=British Museum Press|isbn=9780714111490}}</ref><ref name="ODNB" /> His father's family was from Austria.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/cn/books/desert-digs-of-a-crime-queen/167615.article | title=Desert digs of a crime queen | date=8 March 2002 }}</ref> He was educated at [[Rokeby Preparatory School|Rokeby School]], and all-boys [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]], and [[Lancing College]], then an all-boys [[Independent school (UK)|independent]] [[boarding school]] (where he was a contemporary of [[Evelyn Waugh]] and [[Humphrey Trevelyan]]).<ref name="PBA obit" /> He ended school at 17 to [[matriculate]] into the [[University of Oxford]], where he studied ''[[literae humaniores]]'' (i.e. [[classics]]) at [[New College, Oxford]].<ref name="PBA obit" /><ref name="britannica">{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Mallowan | title=Sir Max Mallowan &#124; British archaeologist &#124; Britannica | date=2 May 2024 }}</ref> He achieved a [[Fourth-class honours]] in [[honour moderations|Mods]] in 1923 and [[third-class honours]] in ''[[Greats]]'' in 1925.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB |first= H. R. F. |last= Keating |authorlink= H. R. F. Keating |title= Mallowan, Sir Max Edgar Lucien (1904–1978) |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/31403 }}</ref> Among others, he was taught by [[H. A. L. Fisher]], [[Percy Gardner]] and [[Gilbert Murray]].<ref name="PBA obit" />

==Career==
[[File:Expedition-house-and-staff -1928 29.jpg|thumb|left|Mallowan (third from left) with the 1928-29 Ur expedition staff.]]

===Early archaeology career===
It was by means of [[H. A. L. Fisher]], the warden of his college, that Mallowan was introduced to [[D. G. Hogarth]] and then to [[Leonard Woolley]].<ref name="PBA obit" /> He worked first as an apprentice to Woolley at the archaeological site of [[Ur]] (1925–1930),<ref name="britannica"/> which was thought to be the capital of [[Mesopotamia]]n civilization. It was at the Ur site, in 1930, that he first met Agatha Christie, the famous author, whom he married the same year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=577|title=Max Mallowan|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-09|archive-date=10 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210020058/https://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=577|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1932, he spent a brief time working at [[Nineveh]] with [[Reginald Campbell Thompson]], where he made a 21 metre-deep shaft down to [[Natural (archaeology)|natural]] level in the Kuyunjiq [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]].<ref name="ODNB" />

Mallowan then became a field director for a series of expeditions managed jointly by the [[British Museum]] and the [[British School of Archaeology in Iraq]]. His excavations included the prehistoric village at [[Tell Arpachiyah]], and the sites at [[Chagar Bazar]] and [[Tell Brak]]<ref name="britannica"/> in the [[Upper Khabur]] area ([[Syria]]). He was also the first to excavate archaeological sites in the valley of the river [[Balikh River|Balikh]], to the west of the Khabur basin. In December 1933, he was elected a [[Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries]] (FSA).<ref>{{cite journal |title=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries |journal=The Antiquaries Journal |date=1934 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=233–234 |doi=10.1017/S0003581500051362}}</ref>

===War service===
After the beginning of the [[Second World War]] he served with the [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]] in North Africa, being based for part of 1943 at the ancient city of [[Sabratha]] in [[Libya]]. He was commissioned as a [[pilot officer]] on probation in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch on 11 February 1941,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35106|page=1528|date=14 March 1941}}</ref> promoted [[flying officer]] on 18 August 1941,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35292|pages=5668–5669|date=14 March 1941}}</ref> [[flight lieutenant]] on 1 April 1943<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36059 |supp=y|page=2777|date=15 June 1943}}</ref> and for some time he also had the rank of [[wing commander (rank)|wing commander]]. His first role with the RAF was as a liaison officer with allied forces and, later in the war, as a civilian affairs officer in North Africa.<ref name="ODNB" /> He resigned his commission on 10 February 1954, but was permitted to retain the rank of wing commander during retirement.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40234 |supp=y|page=4249|date=16 July 1954}}</ref>

===Academic career===
After the war, in 1947, he was appointed Professor of Western Asiatic Archaeology at the [[University of London]].<ref name="britannica"/> He also served as director of the [[British School of Archaeology in Iraq]] from 1947 to 1961. He directed the resumption of its work at [[Nimrud]] (previously excavated by [[Austen Henry Layard|A. H. Layard]]), which he published in ''Nimrud and its Remains'' (2 volumes, 1966). Mallowan gave an account of his work in his book ''Twenty-five Years Of Mesopotamian Discovery'' (1956) and his wife Agatha Christie described his work in Syria in her book ''[[Come, Tell Me How You Live]]'' (1946).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-group-science-entertainment-middle-east-iraq-d5336edd39354fb0be92825b339e79cd | title=Agatha Christie helped in uncovering Iraq's ancient Nimrud | website=[[Associated Press]] | date=6 January 2017 }}</ref> In 1954, he was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.<ref name="ODNB" /> He served as vice-president of the [[British Academy]] from 1961 to 1962.<ref name="ODNB" /> Having left the University of London, he was elected a [[Fellow (Oxbridge)|fellow]] of [[All Souls College, Oxford]] in 1962.<ref name="WWW">{{cite web |title=Mallowan, Sir Max (Edgar Lucien), (6 May 1904–19 Aug. 1978), Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1962–71, Emeritus Fellow, 1976; Professor of Western Asiatic Archæology, University of London, 1947–62, now Emeritus Professor |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U157131 |website=[[Who Was Who]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=7 April 2024 |language=en |date=1 December 2007}}</ref> This was a [[senior research fellow]]ship that omitted the requirement to teach and so he could concentrate on writing up the excavations at Nimrud.<ref name="PBA obit">{{cite journal |last1=Oates |first1=David |author1-link=David Oates |title=Mallowan, Max Edgar Lucien, 1904-1978 |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=1990 |volume=76 |pages=499–511 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1298/76p499.pdf |access-date=7 April 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Agatha Christie died in 1976; the next year, Mallowan married [[Barbara Hastings Parker]], an archaeologist, who had been his [[Epigraphy|epigraphist]] at [[Nimrud]] and Secretary of the [[British School of Archaeology in Iraq]].

He died on 19 August 1978, aged 74, at [[Greenway Estate|Greenway House]] in Devon<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4299666 | jstor=4299666 | title=Sir Max Mallowan | author1=D. S | journal=Iran | year=1979 | volume=17 | pages=v–vii }}</ref> and was interred alongside his first wife in the churchyard of St Mary's, [[Cholsey]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/christie.html | title=Dame Agatha Christie & Sir Max Mallowan }}</ref> in Oxfordshire. His estate was valued at £524,054.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Error?aspxerrorpath=/Calendar|title=Find a will &#124; GOV.UK|website=probatesearch.service.gov.uk}}</ref> His second wife, Barbara, died in [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire|Wallingford]] in 1993, at the age of 85.<ref>[http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp Deaths England and Wales 1984-2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104084417/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp |date=4 November 2015 }} (subscription required)</ref>

==Honours==
Mallowan was appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the 1960 [[Queen's Birthday Honours]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=42051 |supp=y|page=3983|date=3 June 1960}}</ref> and [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1968.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44600 |supp=y|page=6300|date=31 May 1968}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44717|page=21305|date=15 November 1968}}</ref> He gave the 1969 Albert Reckitt Archaeological Lecture.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mallowan, Max|title=Elamite Problems|journal=Proceedings of the British Academy|year=1971|volume=55|pages=255–292|url=http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/55p255.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=June 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
In 2019, Mallowan was played by [[Jonah Hauer-King]] for the movie ''[[Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar]]''.

In 2022, Mallowan was played by [[Lucian Msamati]] in the British-American movie ''[[See How They Run (2022 film)|See How They Run]]''.

==Selected works==

* {{cite book |last1=Mallowan |first1=M. E. L. |title=Twenty-five years of Mesopotamian discovery (1932-1956) |date=1956 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq |location=London}} 
* {{cite book |last1=Mallowan |first1=M. E. L. |title=Early Mesopotamia And Iran |series=The Library of Early Civilizations |date=1965 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mallowan |first1=M. E. L. |title=Nimrud and its Remains |date=1966 |publisher=Collins on behalf of The British School of Archaeology in Iraq |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mallowan |first1=M. E. L. |editor1-last=Edwards |editor1-first=I. E. S. |editor1-link=I. E. S. Edwards |editor2-last=Gadd |editor2-first=C. J. |editor2-link= C. J. Gadd |editor3-last=Hammond |editor3-first=N. G. L. |editor3-link=N. G. L. Hammond |title= Prolegomena and Prehistory |volume=I |series=[[The Cambridge Ancient History]] |date=1970 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=327–462 |chapter=VIII: The development of cities: from Al-'Ubaid to the end of Uruk}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mallowan |first1=Max |last2=Davies |first2=Leri Glynne |title=Ivories in Assyrian Style, Commentary, Catalogue and Plates |date=1970 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq |location=London}}

==See also==
* [[Nimrud ivories]]

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* Cameron, George&nbsp;G. "Sir Max Mallowan, 1904–1978: [Obituary]", ''The Biblical Archaeologist'', Vol.&nbsp;42, No.&nbsp;3. (Summer, 1979), pp.&nbsp;180–183.
*{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31403|title=Mallowan, Sir Max Edgar Lucien}}
* Christie Mallowan, Agatha. ''Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir''. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1976 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-396-07320-4}}); New York: Vintage/Ebury, 1983 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-370-30563-9}}); New York: [[HarperCollins]], 1999 (paperback, {{ISBN|0-00-653114-8}}); Pleasantville, NY: Akadine Press, 2002 (with introduction by David Pryce-Jones; paperback, {{ISBN|1-58579-010-9}}).
* Mallowan, M.E.L. ''Mallowan's Memoirs''. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1977 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-396-07467-7}}). Reprinted as ''Mallowan's Memoirs: Agatha and the Archaeologist''. New York: HarperCollins, 2002 (paperback, {{ISBN|0-00-711704-3}}).

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
* [http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/christie.html Agatha Christie/Sir Max Mallowan's blue plaque at Cholsey]

{{Agatha Christie|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallowan, Max}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of London]]
[[Category:Archaeologists of Nineveh]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Burials in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:English archaeologists]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:People educated at Lancing College]]
[[Category:People from Wandsworth]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force wing commanders]]
[[Category:20th-century British archaeologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Nimrud]]