the Musée du Louvre and a member of the institute (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres), became famous through his work in Syria. Dussaud intervened in the appointment of responsible operators in the Service des Antiquités and in the choice of the leaders of important missions, such as Maurice Dunand at Byblos, Claude Schaeffer at Ras Shamra, and André Parrot at Mari. During this period, which lasted until World War II, great projects were launched. Some are still going on today, directed by France either alone or in close cooperation with other countries, for example at Doura, Europos, and Antioch. In addition to excavations, Baalbeck and Palmyre and the Kreak des Chevaliers were cleaned up and restored. With the end of World War II came the end of the French mandate over Syria. France abandoned the Service des Antiquités, but Seyrig maintained French influence by settling the French Institute of Archaeology in Beirut in 1946 and leading it until 1967. In 1977, it became the Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche Orient (IFAPO), and it includes and manages permanent sections at Damas, Beirut, and Amman.

In the area of Islamic studies, French archaeology is present in the form of the Institut Français des Etudes Arabes (IFEAD) at Damas, founded in the first years of the mandate. Excavations at the medieval sites of Meskené-Balis and Meyadin were undertaken under its patronage.

France’s purpose was to extend its sphere of archaeological action over the whole territory of the ancient Ottoman Empire, especially in Palestine, even if it remained under British mandate, and in turkey itself. But in these last two countries since the end of the nineteenth century, archaeological regulations did not favor foreign archeological missions, and France’s activities there have been limited. The Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, created in 1920 out of the Dominican Ecole Biblique founded by le Père Lagrange, is involved, for the most part, in Palestinian archaeology. Le Père Vincent (because of his works at Bethlehem, Hebron, Emmaus, and especially at Jerusalem) and le Père de Vaux (because of his excavations at Khirbet Qumram, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) dominated the archaeology of this school.

In spite of French efforts in Turkey, French archaeological activity there remained small in scale. The great explorations led by Charles Texier at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the above-mentioned mission in Galatia of Georges Perrot, and various preliminary surveys by the members of the Ecole Française d’Athènes at the end of the nineteenth century are worth mentioning, but are not as significant as the results of other nations, such as Germany. No notable changes in this situation occurred after the end of World War I. However, the Institut Français d’Istanbul was created in 1930 by Albert Gabriel. In 1975 it became the Institut Français d’Etudes Anatoliennes (IFEA) and it has made notable contributions to the exploration of Phrygia and to the understanding of Turkish monuments and of Greco-Roman cities. The monumental excavations at Xanthos, successful as they have been, are an isolated example of French archaeological work on a larger scale.

In Persia (modern Iran) the situation was entirely different. As early as 1897 the Délégation Française en Perse was created, because of an agreement signed in 1895 by Nasir al-din Shah that conferred the monopoly of all excavations in the whole of Persia to France. Until then archaeological activity by France, or by any other country, had been almost nonexistent in this region. The one important event prior to this was a diplomatic mission (1839–1842) directed by the Comte de Sercey and including architect Pascal Coste and artist-designer Eugène Flandin, to draw plans of Persian monuments. Between 1884 and 1886 the Palace of Darius at the site of Susa was excavated under the direction of Jane and Marcel Dieulafoy. When France began negotiations with the Persian government in 1895, its purpose was to protect so promising a site from foreign archaeological competitors. France had no wish to repeat its experience at Nineveh. And so a chance conversation at the convention of 1895, reinforced in the summer of 1900 by the final agreement signed in Paris by Muzzafar-al-din Shah, gave France not only the site of Susa but also the entire collection