Alfred Merlin

Alfred Merlin (born March 13, 1876 in Orléans , † March 16, 1965 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French archaeologist .

Life

Merlin studied from 1896 at the École normal supérieure in Paris and was a member of the École française de Rome from 1900 to 1903 . In 1901 he began his activity in Tunisia , where he carried out excavations in Thugga . From 1905 to 1920 he was head of the antiquities administration of Tunisia.

Before Mahdia in Tunisia he was busy from 1907 with the investigation of the ship find of Mahdia discovered by a Greek sponge diver captain , whose importance and belonging to a shipwreck he recognized. Among other things, he managed to recover a statue of Hermes . Due to a lack of financial support, he had to cancel further underwater dives off Mahdia. He is one of the pioneers of underwater archeology .

From 1921 he worked at the antiques department of the Louvre in Paris, from 1937 to 1946 as its director. In 1912 he became a corresponding member, in 1928 a full member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , which he headed as Secrétaire perpétuel from 1948 to 1964.

Publications (selection)

• L'Aventin dans l'Antiquité (= Bibliothèque des Ecoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome. 97, ISSN  0257-4101 ). Fontemoing, Paris 1906, ( digital version ; also: Paris, University, dissertation, 1905/1906).
• L'Année epigraphique . (directeur)

Movie and TV

• 2010: Treasure hunt in the depths - The underwater pioneer. Scenic documentation in the Terra X series , Germany, 40 min., Film by Kay Siering and Marc Brasse, program information

Web links

• Alfred Merlin at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
• Alfred Merlin at the Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques