Drawn from interviews conducted between 2007 and 2020, this account of the life of renowned archaeologist and former director of the British Institute of Persian Studies, David Brian Stronach, reveals a lost period in international archaeology within Iran, when BIPS was founded and acted as a unique intellectual hub for archaeologists, expats, scholars and foreignersIt describes the challenges he faced establishing the Institute and his experiences working with some of the 20th century’s most fascinating personalities in archaeology, such as James Mellaart, Max Mallowan, Seton Lloyd and Agatha Christie. It also provides a new account of the effects of the Iranian revolution of 1979 on Stronach’s own life’s work, on the Institute he built, and on the international world of Iranian archaeology.