Nazimuddin Ahmed Commemoration Volume

As the older English-educated generation of scholars in Bangladesh is becoming extinct, there is a rush to publish Commemoration Volumes to celebrate their lives. Nazimuddin Ahmed belongs to this generation of scholars.

Dr. Nazimuddin Ahmed was one of the most outstanding archaeologists of the Indian sub-continent. Born in Azmatpur (West Bengal) in March 1923, he graduated from Islamia College, Calcutta in 1946 and completed his Master’s degree in Islamic History and Culture from Calcutta University in 1949. Late in 1949 he emigrated to Pakistan and initially worked as a trainee archaeologist at Mohenjodaro under the supervision of Sir Mortimer Wheeler. He went on to work on archaeological sites in Quetta and Zoab Valley under the guidance of Walter Fairservis. His archaeological career allowed him to work at ancient sites in Rajshahi and Lahore (i.e. West Pakistan as well as East Pakistan). In 1959 he was appointed Superintendent of Archaeology and in 1970 he was promoted to the post of Director of Archaeology and Museums of Pakistan. During his busy career he was allowed a study leave to upgrade his skills and in 1958, under the supervision of K. de B. Codrington at SOAS, he wrote a Ph.D. thesis entitled ‘History and Archaeology of Taxila’.

Later he worked as Director of Archaeology and Museums of Bangladesh, and retired from active public service in 1983. He published a number of books, including Sculptures of East Pakistan: 5000 Years of Art in Pakistan (1964), Islamic Heritage of Bangladesh (1977) and edited Inscriptions and Architecture: A Portrait of the Sultanate Period (Dhaka 2000).