Carl Sophus Lumholtz

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The young Carl Lumholtz

Carl Sofus Lumholtz (born April 23, 1851 in Fåberg , Norway , † May 5, 1922 in Saranac Lake , New York , USA ) was a Norwegian naturalist, ethnologist , photographer and author. He became known for his publications on research into indigenous cultures in Australia , Mexico and Borneo . As an ethnographer , Lumholtz was a pioneer in the technique of “participatory observation”.

Life

Lumholtz already roamed the mountains of Norway as a child and started a botanical collection as a schoolboy. This is now in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew near London . At the father's request, he attended the seminary and began studying theology .

It was not until he was 29 that he fulfilled his childhood dream. On behalf of the Zoological and Zootomic Museum of the University of Christiania (Oslo) , Lumholtz traveled to South and Northeast Australia from 1880 to 1884 in order to discover new mammal species and to collect specimens for the museum.

After his return to Norway in 1884, Lumholtz undertook four research trips to Northwest Mexico between 1890 and 1898 due to his interest in primitive cultures and from 1913 to 1917 he traveled to Borneo on a short expedition through India (1914–15).

Carl Lumholtz, MA, was a member of the Norwegian Society of Sciences and an external member of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris . In 1905, Lumholtz was a founding member of The Explorers Club .

Carl Sophus Lumholtz died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium on Saranac Lake, New York State .

Expedition to Australia

Because of his interest in indigenous peoples, he contacted the Aborigines , who supported him in his search for unknown creatures. They told him about an unusual animal that lives on trees in the mountains near the coast. Lumholtz went on a search and discovered the first of two tree kangaroo species occurring in Australia , which was named after him the Lumholtz tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) . Previously, tree kangaroos were only known from New Guinea .

He published his Australian travel experiences in a book with the lurid title: Among man-eaters. Four years on the road in Australia ( Blandt Menneskeædere: 4 aars Reise i Australien , Copenhagen 1887).

Expeditions to Mexico

Carl Sophus Lumholtz

As Lumholtz explains in his foreword to Unknown Mexico: Explorations in the Sierra Madre and Other Regions, 1890-1898 , the idea for a research expedition to Mexico came to him in London in 1887. The disappeared cave dwellers of the abandoned rock dwellings in the American Southwest had caught his attention. During a lecture tour through the United States, the American Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society each promised him $ 1,000 to find the descendants of the Anasazi , the former rock dwellers, in the remote canyons of Mexico.

On his travels he noted numerous details, such as people's hairstyles, the rules for throwing the dice with ankle bones or the symbolism of the embroidery on Indian robes. Lumholtz took many photos for the American Museum of Natural History. Around 2000 glass plate negatives are currently stored in its archives and some of them can be viewed online.

First trip to Mexico (1890-1891)

On September 9, 1890, Carl Lumholtz set out with the mule from Bisbee (Arizona) via Fronteras to Mexico. He was accompanied by 29 scientists, students, guides, cooks and porters of the numerous boxes with provisions, folding chairs and tents. On December 2, 1890, the expedition reached the Sierra Madre near Nácori.

The results of the expedition included a large plant collection with 27 new species (including the agave hartmanii ), 55 mammals ( Sciurus apache , a species of squirrel) and a thousand birds, as well as a complete data collection with meteorological observations.

When the provided money ran out in April 1891, Lumholtz returned to the United States to find new funding.

Second trip to Mexico (1892-1893)

After the American Museum of Natural History decided to extend funding, Lumholtz returned to Mexico and resumed the expedition in January 1892. This time he approached the Tarahumara (own name rarámuri ), isolated cave dwellers in the Sierra Madre Occidental . In order to win the trust of the Indians, Lumholtz gradually dismissed all members of his expedition until he was finally left alone and lived as a loner among the Tarahumara. After selling his animals and a large part of his possessions as well as the financial support of two American ladies who were friends, Lumholtz was able to continue his research trip until August 1893. Then he traveled back to the USA and presented his collection of Tarahumara and Tepehuán artefacts at the world exhibition in Chicago .

Third trip to Mexico (1894–1897)

In order to continue the ethnological research of the Indian cultures, the American Museum of Natural History sent him again to Mexico, this time for his longest stay. The expedition lasted from March 1894 to March 1897. This time he traveled alone from the beginning and lived for several months with various indigenous groups, a year and a half under the Tarahumara and ten months under the Coras and Huichols . In this way he refined an ethnological technique that would be labeled today as a " participant observer ". In doing so, he learned the language and chants of his host tribes.

Participation in the ritual consumption of peyote cactus , which the Tarahumara call hikuli and has the status of a demigod, is legendary . Lumholtz describes the subsequent effects: "I suffered from ... visions of beautiful purple and green flashes and zigzag patterns".

Fourth trip to Mexico (1898)

In 1898 Carl Lumholtz made his last expedition to Mexico and stayed for four months. He visited the Tarahumara and Huicholes again. One of the purposes of the trip was to check unclear points in the notes. He also recorded sixty melodies and chants from the tribes visited using a graphophone . He was accompanied and supported on this trip by the anthropologist Aleš Hrdlička , with whom he also wrote and published two essays.

Quotes

“Primitive people are becoming scarce on the globe. On the American continents there are still some left in their original state. If they are studied before they, too, have lost their individuality or been crushed under the heels of civilization, much light may be thrown not only upon the early people of this country but upon the first chapters of the history of mankind. In the present rapid development of Mexico it cannot be prevented that these primitive people will soon disappear by fusion with the great nation to whom they belong. "

“Primitive peoples are becoming rare on the globe. Some still live in their original state on the American continent. Studying them before they too lose their individuality or are crushed under the boot of civilization will shed much light not only on the early peoples of this country, but also on the first chapters of human history. Given the current rapid development of Mexico, it cannot be prevented that these primitive peoples will disappear and merge into the great nation to which they belong. "

- Carl Lumholtz: Foreword to Unknown Mexico

Honors

Works

Carl Lumholtz reported on his travels in numerous scientific articles and several books:

  • Blandt Menneskeædere: Fire års Reise i Australien - Among Cannibals: An Account of Four Years' Travels in Australia and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland , Copenhagen 1887 (1889), 480 pages.
  • Explorations in Mexico , Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 1891.
  • Letters to the American Geographical Society of New York, "Mr. Carl Lumholtz in Mexico" , Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. III., 1893.
  • The Cave-Dwellers of the Sierra Madre , Proceedings of the International Congress of Anthropology, Chicago 1894.
  • four articles in Scribner's Magazine : Explorations in the Sierra Madre , November 1891; Among the Tarahumares, the American Cave-Dwellers , July 1894; Tarahumare Life and Customes , September 1894; Tarahumare Dance and Worship , October 1894.
  • Blandt Sierra Madres huleboere , Norway, Norsk Calendar, Kristinia 1895.
  • (with Aleš Hrdlička): Trephining in Mexico , American Anthropologist, December 1897.
  • (with Aleš Hrdlička): Marked Human Bones from a Prehistoric Tarasco Indian Burial-place in the State of Michoacan, Mexico , Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. X., 1898.
  • The Huichol Indians in Mexico , Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. X, 1898.
  • Symbolism of the Huichol Indians , Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. III., May 1900.
  • Blandt Mexicos indianere - Unknown Mexico: A Record of Five Years' Exploration Among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre; in the Tierra Caliente of Tepic and Jalisco; and Among the Tarascos of Michoacan (2 volumes), 1902 (Kristiania 1903), 825 pages. ( Full text online )
  • Through Central Borneo: An Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917 , 1917. ( full text online )
  • My Life of Exploration (autobiography), 1921.

literature

  • Paul Salopek: Searching for traces in the Sierra Madre , in: National Geographic Germany, June 2000, pp. 112-137 (with numerous photos of Lumholtzens travels in Mexico).

Web links

Commons : Carl Lumholtz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Salopek: Searching for traces in the Sierra Madre , in: National Geographic Germany, June 2000, p. 123.
  2. ^ Paul Salopek: Searching for traces in the Sierra Madre , p. 119.
  3. ↑ Taken from the title page of Unknown Mexico .
  4. ^ About the Club: A Gathering Place . In: The Explorers Club: Promoting Exploration and Field Sciences Since 1904 . Explorers Club . 2002. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  5. ^ Paul Salopek: Searching for traces in the Sierra Madre , p. 117; Original: Carl Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico, Chapter XIX , p. 358.
  6. ^ Foreword by Unknown Mexico , partly in the translation of National Geographic Germany from June 2000, Paul Salopek: Spurensuche in der Sierra Madre , p. 117.
personal data
SURNAME Lumholtz, Carl Sophus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lumholtz, Carl Sofus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian naturalist and ethnologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Fåberg , Norway
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 1922
PLACE OF DEATH Saranac Lake , New York