Born in Plehan near Derventa, 20.10.1914. Graduated from high school in Vinkovci, Derventa, Visoko and Zagreb. Classical philology, he studied and graduated (1937) in Belgrade. In 1951 defended his Ph.D. at the faculty of Philosophy in Ljubljana, on thesis Ancient Village Nebo and problems of Butimir Culture. He was a professor of high school in Vranje (1939/1940) and Mostar (1940/1943).
After his work at Ministry of Education of B&H, he moved to Sarajevo and, and in 1947 he became the duty of curator and head of Ancient times Department and Chief of Archaeological Department of National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From year 1957 until 1968, he performed as director.
From 1964 he began to teach archeology at the Philosophy Faculty in Sarajevo and in 1968 moved to University where by the 1978 he, as full time professor teaches archeology and history of an Old age.
He also teached preshistoric archeology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar (1962-1965), and in 1965 he held a course in prehistoric times in Balkanas at the University of Münster.
Arriving to the National Museum, Benac started his successful activities as an archeologist and organizer of the study of archeology in B&H and Yugoslavia. His research was focused first on the problems of the Neolithic and Enolithic Western Balkans and especially Bosnia, and then the question of ethnogenesis of the Illyrians and culture of Bronze and Iron Age, and the problem of migration of Indoeuropeans towards the Balkans areas.
He dug up numerous of important archeological sites from Neolithic and eneolithic (Hrustovača near the valley of Sana, Nebo near Travnik, Kakanj, Varoš near Koraja, Pivnica near Odžaka, Obre near Kaknja, Zelena cave near Mostara, Crvena Stijena at Montenegro, Zecovi near Prijedor, etc).
The results of archaeological research, and works on various problems of prehistoric times of the Western Balkans, Benac has published in numerous national and international journals and several monographs, most in the Newsletter of the National Museum, and in periodicima Archaeologia Iugoslavica, articles and materials of the cultural history of eastern Bosnia, Bericht der Römische-Germanischen Commission, Diadora, Contributions to the study of the history of Sarajevo, Journal of archeology and history of dalmatian, Papers, Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, and the proceedings Balcanica Adriatica praehistorica et antiqua (dedicated Grgi Novak, Zagreb 1970).
In addition to prehistoric, are important research and its medieval tombstones - tombstones, on which he started publishing a special series of monographs.
He was the first president of the Coordination Committee of archaeologists Yugoslavia, the president of the Archaeological Society of Yugoslavia 1953/1954, President of the Museum Society BiH 1955/1956, president of the National Committee for Balkanology Yugoslavia (since 1977), was a permanent member of the Conseil permanent de l'Union internationale des sciences préhistoriqueset protohistoriques since 1956, and the Association International d'études sud-est européen since 1977, also was a member of many republican and federal councils and committees for science and culture, some coacademic boards and scientific institutions abroad (Italian Association for Prehistory and the protohistoriju Florence, the German archaeological society in Berlin and Frankfurt, from 1958). Yr. 1961 was elected corresponding member of the Scientific Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the 1967th and regular member of ANU BiH. In the Academy he served as Secretary of Department of Social Sciences 1969-1972, since 1972, the 1977th general secretary, and since 1977, president of the Academy.
Corresponding member since 1972 SANU, JAZU since 1975. and SAZU since 1977, 1977/1978 he served as President of the Council of Academy of Sciences and Arts Yugoslavia.
Since 1982, the editor for the Encyclopedia of Yugoslavia SR BiH. For his work has been awarded a number of domestic and foreign decorations: Order of merits for people with golden star (1970), award AVNOJ (1976), Order of the Republic with golden wreath (1977), Ordino "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" (1979) etc.
He died in Sarajevo in 1992.
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