Peder Mortensen

Peder Mortensen (7 May 1934 – 8 December 2022) was a Danish archaeologist specialized in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods of southwest Asia.

Education and career Mortensen was born on 7 May 1934 in Jutland. He studied prehistoric archaeology at Aarhus University and graduated with an MA degree in 1960. He was a curator at the National Museum of Denmark from 1961–1968, director for the Danish Institute in Damascus and cultural advisor to the Danish embassy in Damascus 1996–2001, and a member of the Academia Europea.

In 2004, he was honored by the festschrift From handaxe to Khan : essays presented to Peder Mortensen on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

Books Mortensen's books include: Tell Shimshara: The Hassuna Period (1970) The Hilly Flanks and Beyond: Essays on the Prehistory of Southwestern Asia Presented to Robert J. Braidwood, 15 November 1982 (edited with T. Cuyler Young Jr. and Philip J. Smith, 1983) Bayt al-'Aqqad. The History and Restoration of a House in Old Damascus (2005) Excavations at Tepe Guran. The Neolithic Period (2014). Peeters, Leuven Mount Nebo. An Archaeological Survey of the Region. Volume I: The Palaeolithic and Neolithic Periods (2013) (with Ingolf Thuesen and Inge Demant Mortensen) Mount Nebo. An Archaeological Survey of the Region. Volume II: The Early Bronze Age (2019) (with Ingolf Thuesen and Inge Demant Mortensen) Eyes on a Street in Cairo. (2017). Copenhagen, Orbis Publishing House