On July 4, world-renowned archaeologist of Azerbaijani descent Rauf Magomedovich Munchayev died at the age of 93, the Archaeology and Ethnography Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.
Rauf Munchayev was born on September 23, 1928, in Zagatala. He studied at the Russian school in Zagatala. In 1945-1949, he studied in the History Faculty of Daghestan State Pedagogical Institute, in 1949-1953, he studied archaeology at the Archaelogy Institute in Moscow. In 1953, he became a candidate of historical sciences, and in 1971, he defended his doctoral dissertation.
In the 1960s, Rauf Munchayev participated in archaeological excavations in Afghanistan, Bulgaria, India and Mongolia. From 1969 till 2010, he was the head of the first Soviet-Russian archaeological expedition investigating the ancient Mesopotamian monuments.
This expedition conducted archaeological excavations in Iraq until 1985 and in 1988-2010 in Syria in the monuments dating back to the VIII-III milleniums.
In his scientific activity, Rauf Munchayev often referenced Azerbaijani monuments. Rauf Munchayev's articles about Azerbaijan's archaeological monuments were published in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. In those years, R.Munchayev came on a business trip to Azerbaijan, familiarized himself with the outcomes of the archaeological excavations and published articles together with his Azerbaijani colleagues.