David Whitehouse

As an archaeologist, Whitehouse was best known for his work at the site of the ancient city of Siraf, Iran, an ancient Sassanid port on the north shore of the Persian Gulf, most of which was destroyed in an earthquake around 970AD. Between 1966 and 1973 he directed six seasons of excavation, uncovering well-preserved architecture, including a 9th-century mosque, and several million objects, some dating back to the 2nd century AD. The excavations bore testimony to a wealthy medieval entrepot for ships carrying luxury merchandise to the Middle East from China, India, south-east Asia, East Africa and the Red Sea.

The Siraf excavations were among the most important undertaken on a major early site of the eastern Islamic territories in the late 20th century. Whitehouse took a comprehensive approach, investigating not only the main buildings and houses, but also the economy of the town, and conducted an environmental study which addressed issues such as geomorphology, water supply and land use.

One of the most interesting finds was a funerary site which appeared to indicate the persistence of pre-Islamic burial practices into the Islamic period.

David Whitehouse was born on October 15 1941 and grew up at the village of Wildmoor, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. He decided to become an archaeologist as a child after being given a book about famous excavations as a Christmas present.

From King Edward’s School, Birmingham, he went on to read Archaeology and Anthropology at St John’s College, Cambridge, staying on to take a PhD. From 1963 to 1965 he was a Rome Scholar in Medieval Studies at the British School in Rome.

In 1966 he was appointed Wainwright Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Oxford, where he remained until 1973. It was during this time that he carried out excavations at Siraf.

After a year in Kabul as director of the British Institute of Afghan Studies, Whitehouse was appointed director of the British School at Rome. Over the next 10 years he played an active role in excavations at the ancient Etruscan town of Tuscania, undertook projects at Gubbio, Otranto and Anguillara, co-directed (with Charles McLendon) excavations at the Benedictine Abbey of Farfa and led a major excavation of the Schola Praeconum at the foot of the Palatine Hill — a classical Roman structure transformed into a church.

In 1984 he left Rome to become chief curator of the Corning Museum of Glass. He became deputy director of collections three years later, and in 1988 was appointed deputy director of the Museum. He became director in 1992 and executive director in 1999.

During his 27 years with the Corning, Whitehouse added some 20,000 items to the Museum’s collections through a programme of acquisitions, and oversaw a major renovation and expansion of the museum’s premises, including the addition of a high-quality glassmaking studio. In 2011 he retired to focus on writing and research, becoming the museum’s Senior Scholar.

Whitehouse published more than 500 scholarly papers and books, including three volumes on Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass.

In his last book, Glass: A Short History, published last year, he charted the development of a craft from early origins in the Roman Empire to its development as an artistic medium by the American Studio Glass Movement.

Whitehouse was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

He married first, in 1963, Ruth Ainger, with whom he had a son and two daughters; and secondly, in 1975, Elizabeth-Anne Ollemans, with whom he also had a son and two daughters. His wife and children survive him.

David Whitehouse, born October 15 1941, died February 17 2013