Massoud Azarnoush was an Iranian archaeologist, university professor and expert on ancient artifacts.

He emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary studies such as archaeobotany and zooarchaeology.

Although his career was historical archaeology, he had a keen interest in developing research on the pre- and proto-history of Iran, especially Paleolithic studies.

Born 1945 in Kermanshah, Azarnoush received his MA from the department of archaeology at University of Tehran in 1972 and his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985. 

After returning home, Azarnoush served as professor of archaeology at the University of Tehran before taking up the direction of the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR). 

He had a fundamental role in reorganizing the ICAR in its new building in the Mas'udieh Palace. Azarnoush also helped young archaeologists and students to join to the ICAR and participate in various archaeological research and activities. 

He welcomed international cooperation including a series of rescue excavations in the Bulaghi gorge near Pasargadae in collaboration with archaeological teams from Germany, France, and Poland. However, the result is considered one of the important successes of archaeological fieldwork in Iran during the past 20 years. 

Azarnoush steered excavations at important sites such as Kangavar, Hamadan, Susa, and Hajiabad where he found a Sassanian manor house at with stucco decorations, which served the basis for his doctoral dissertation and book. 

He was also preparing a field project at the Parthian remains at Qaleh Yazdgird near Kermanshah. 

He re-investigated Tepe Hegmataneh in Hamadan and the excavations demonstrated that the actual remains date to the Parthian period and Median Ecbatana should be sought elsewhere. 

Azarnoush prematurely died of a massive heart attack on his return from the excavations at Hamadan. 

He was only 63 years old and so his death was a shock to all in the field of Iranian Studies. 

                                                                                         (Source: Iranica Antiqua)