Jan Best

Jan Gijsbert Pieter Best (born 29 August 1941, Grou - 19 January 2023) was a Dutch pre- and protohistorian, comparative linguist, archaeologist, and author.

In 1966, Best passed his graduate examinations in Classical Languages, achieving a major in Ancient History, along with minors in Greek and Latin.

From 1962 to 1991, Best worked in the University of Amsterdam, respectively as assistant classical archaeology, associate professor ancient history and coordinator of the study Mediterranean Pre- and Protohistory.

These include his role, from 1975 to 1979, as a co-leader of the excavation of the settlement at Dyadovo (Djadovo, bg:Дядово), which is a Dutch-Bulgarian-Japanese UNESCO project in Bulgaria.

[9] In 1991 Best was co-founder and director of Najade Press, a publishing company issuing the international magazine Thamyris, Mythmaking from Past to Present.

In October 2010 his book Het Byblosschrift ontcijferd (The Byblos Syllabary deciphered) appeared with publishing company Bert Bakker.