QUDRAT SEYFULLA ISMAYILZADE (1939) Archaeologist

Qudrat Ismayilzade was born on 24 October 1934. In 1952, he entered Baku State University, Faculty of History, graduating in 1957. He then served as a teacher in Yardimli district. In 1959, he was offered a job at the Department of Archaeology, Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. From 1960 to 1963, he did postgraduate studies. He defended a PhD thesis in 1964, getting a ScD degree in 1983. From 1964 to 1977, he was employed as a junior and senior research fellow at Archaeological and Ethnographic Sector, Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. In 1977, he served as a teacher, in 1978 as an associate professor and in 1984 as a professor at Baku State University. In 1959-1960, he was part of a joint expedition of Azerbaijan SSR and USSR academies of sciences that carried out excavations in Orengala and Uchtepe. In 1964, he participated in the excavations in Azykh Cave, a unique Stone Age monument. From 1960 to 1970, Qudrat Ismayilzade discovered a range of archaeological complexes related to ancient cultivation culture in Quruchay and Kondelenchay valley surrounding the southeastern bottom of the Lesser Caucasus, and registered a series of new rock paintings in Kalbajar region. He has published over 250 papers, textbooks, handbooks, study programs and methodological handbooks. He was editor-in-chief of “Azerbaijani arcahaeology” journal. He has attended international scientific conferences and symposia in the cities of Baku, Ashgabat, Tbilisi, Berlin, Saarbrücken, Ankara, Izmir, Van, Tabriz, Tehran, Moscow, Almaty, and Astana. He has contributed to excavations in Altuntepe, Troy and Bogazkoy. In 1990-1991, he gave lectures in Germany on ancient Azerbaijani tangible culture monuments on the invitation of the University of Tübingen. He was a member of the International Association of Archaeologists, International Scientific Council for Cultural Heritage of the Ancient East under the President of the Republic of Turkmenistan, international editorial staff of “Miras” journal founded by the President of Turkmenistan, International Hand Woven Carpet Association, International Association of Humanities under the President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, and Scientific Council of the International Union for Azerbaijani Studies. In 2001, he was elected chair of Azerbaijan bureau of the Eastern Department of Russian Archaeological Society in Saint Petersburg. Qudrat Ismayilzade has supervised nearly 20 masters and over 30 PhD and ScD students to completion.