Georg Wolff (archaeologist)

Georg Wolff (born August 29, 1845 in Neuenhain , † November 6, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German high school teacher and Roman provincial archaeologist . He is considered to be a founder of the scientific Limes research.

Life

Georg Wolff was the second of six children of the Neuenhain estate owner Friedrich Wolff and his wife Friedericke nee. Pluns . He attended grammar school in Fulda and studied at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the Philipps University in Marburg . It was 1872 in Marburg with a thesis on Charlemagne doctorate . From 1870 he worked as a grammar school teacher (later with the title of grammar school professor), until 1889 at the Hohen Landesschule in Hanau , then until 1910 at the Kaiser-Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main .

Wolff campaigned for the cooperation of the German antiquity associations and was involved in the establishment of the South and West German Association for Antiquity Research in 1900 . As a representative of the clubs, he was a member and later deputy head of the Roman-Germanic Commission of the Archaeological Institute of the German Empire and route commissioner of the Reichs-Limes Commission . In 1901/02 he received half a travel grant from the German Archaeological Institute .

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Scientific achievement

Wolff's outstanding scientific achievement consists in the collection of a large amount of data on prehistoric, Roman and early medieval sites in the Rhine-Main area and the southern Wetterau . The reason for this precise geographic delimitation is probably trivial. Most of the sites that Wolff worked on were within reach of his main places of work, Hanau and Frankfurt. In fact, Wolff often appeared wandering on excavations with a leather bag in which he carried little of the necessary surveying material with him. Because of the teaching activity, excavations had to take place on weekends or during the holidays.

Wolff came to archeology as an autodidact. Through membership in Hanau Historical Society in 1844 , he was from 1879 to the excavations Reinhard Suchiers in the burial ground of the fort old castle in Rückingen involved. He recognized the importance of the finds on the Limes for historical research and in the following years devoted himself intensively to the sites on the eastern Wetterau Limes . The history association, of which Wolff was chairman from 1887 to 1889, had a long archaeological tradition as well as a well-functioning lecture system in order to pass on the knowledge gained. Wolff appeared there between 1875 and 1919 in 26 of the monthly lecture events as a speaker.

Occasionally Georg Wolff is credited with refuting the early thesis of a “ Vogelsberg Limes”. Wolff's colleague, grammar school teacher Albert Duncker , presented decisive evidence against the Vogelsberg Limes as early as 1880, supported by the numismatist Reinhard Suchier . Duncker had to defend his views repeatedly in writings until 1886. The Berlin philologist Emil Hübner in particular looked for the Limes east of the Main, but was finally refuted in the 1880s by the finds of the forts on the Mainline ( Wörth 1881, Obernburg 1882, Trennfurt 1883 and Stockstadt 1885). Wolff's merit was to continue Duncker and Suchier's work and to have located and excavated many forts in the eastern Wetterau. His interest was more in the excavation findings than in the findings, as the list of his works shows. Despite the fact that the excavation technique was still little developed at the time, Wolff's descriptions of the findings are particularly impressive because of their precision and clarity.

On behalf of the Reichs-Limeskommission, previously the Hanau history association, he published a. a .: The Roman border wall near Hanau , the fort and the earth camps of Heddernheim , the fort Frankfurt am Main , the southern Wetterau in prehistoric and early historical times and Boniface 's last trip through the Wetterau . Georg Wolff was also the excavator of the Roman city of Nida and the founder of local research in Heddernheim.

Wolff found its way into today's archaeological research mainly because of the large number of sites, which is why his work on the southern Wetterau is still often used in more recent settlement archaeological works. It was only recently that Wolff's idea of ​​shifting the border on the eastern Wetterau Limes in the Trajan period through the discovery of several small forts near Hanau-Mittelbuchen has proven correct. However, its results should be questioned in individual cases because of a fundamental change in excavation technology. When researching Roman roads, he sometimes relied on a very weak source base.

The Wetterau fire graves

In addition to the extremely successful research activity, Wolff also had a particular failure, which is connected with the so-called Wetterau fire graves . These are a group of grave finds, mainly from the Rhine-Main area, which were later recognized as forgeries.

→ Main article : Wetterau fire graves

Honors

Wolff's archaeological achievements have received numerous awards. He received honorary doctorates (Dr.-Ing. H. C. From the Technical University of Darmstadt and Dr. phil. H. C. From the University of Frankfurt ) and honorary memberships in numerous historical associations. The Hanau History Association named him its honorary chairman. A bronze bust of Georg Wolff, created by August Bischoff , is now in the Hanau Historical Museum . In Hanau-Kesselstadt , where he discovered the Roman fort , a street was named after Wolff. A street was also dedicated to him in Frankfurt-Heddernheim, the Roman Nida.

literature

Literature about Georg Wolff

• Karl Ludwig Krauskopf: 150 years of the Hanau History Association. Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 33, 1994, especially pp. 309-312.
• Ingeborg Schnack: Georg Wolff (1845–1929). In: Life pictures from Kurhessen and Waldeck 1830-1930. 6th volume. Elwert, Marburg 1958, p. 383ff.
• Rudolf Welcker: Georg Wolff. An obituary. In: Hanauisches Magazin 9, 1930, pp. 2–13.

Literature by Georg Wolff

• The origin of the court and Schwarzenfels Castle . In: Mitteilungen des Hanauer Bezirksverein Heft 5, 1876, p. 45ff.
• The Roman castle and the Mithras sanctuary of Gross-Krotzenburg am Main. The Roman coins, stamps and graffiti. With Reinhard Suchier. O.V., o .O., 1882.
• The Roman border wall near Hanau with the forts at Rückingen and Marköbel . Orphanage, Hanau 1885.
• The Roman camp in Kesselstadt near Hanau . Kittsteiner, Hanau 1890.
• The 3rd Mithraeum from Heddernheim and its sculptures . With Franz Cumont . Lintz, Trier 1894.
• The Markoebel fort . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.2. Petters, Heidelberg 1896.
• The Hofheim Fort . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.4. Petters, Heidelberg 1897.
• The Kesselstadt fort . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1898.
• Roman roads in the Wetterau . O. V., Frankfurt 1900.
• The earth fortifications of Heldenbergen . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1900.
• On the history of the Roman occupation in the Wetterau and the Main area . In: Nassauische Annalen 32, 1901, pp. 1-25
• Okarben Castle . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1902.
• The Roman city of Nida near Heddernheim and its prehistory . Carl Jügel's publishing house, Frankfurt 1908.
• About Mithras service and Mithreen . Knauer, Frankfurt 1909.
• Neolithic cremation graves in the vicinity of Hanau . O. V., Hanau 1912.
• The Rueckingen fort . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.2. Petters, Heidelberg 1913.
• The southern Wetterau in prehistoric times . Ravenstein, Frankfurt 1913.
• Frankfurt am Main and its surroundings. In prehistoric and early historical times. - Höchst, Frankfurt, Hanau, Heddernheim, Saalburg , Hendschels Luginsland , Frankfurt am Main, 1913.
• The fort Frankfurt am Main . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1915.
• The fort and the underground camp of Heddernheim . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1915.
• The geographical requirements of the Germanicus' chat campaigns . In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies 50, 1917, pp. 53–123. Full text .
• On the history of the Upper German Limes . OV, Bonn 1917.
• Roman-Germanic research . With Friedrich Koepp. De Gruyter, Berlin 1922.
• About the origin of the Schwarzenfels court . In: Hanauisches Magazin 2. 1922/23. No. 10-12.
• The Gross-Krotzenburg Castle . In: The Upper German-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire . Dept. B, Vol. 2.3. Petters, Heidelberg 1933.

Web links

• Wolff, Georg. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dissertation: Critical contributions to the history of Charlemagne (768–771) .
2. ↑ Welcker 1930, pp. 8–9.
3. ↑ Krauskopf 1994, p. 103.
4. ↑ Krauskopf 1994, p. 311; Internet source ( Memento of August 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ).
5. ^ Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies N.F. 8, 1880
6. ↑ See: Ernst Fabricius, Felix Hettner, Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes des Roemerreiches / Abt. A, Vol. 2.1. P. 7.
7. ↑ On the subject of the Vogelsberg Limes see Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann: The archaeological research of the Roman era in Hesse . In: D. Baatz / F.-R. Hermann (ed.): The Romans in Hessen . Theiss, Stuttgart 1989 pp. 13–37 and Rainer Braun: Early research on the Upper German Limes in Baden-Württemberg. Small writings on the knowledge of the Roman occupation history of south-west Germany (writings of the Limes Museum Aalen) 45, Stuttgart 1991 pp. 42–44.
8. ↑ On Wolff's work in Heddernheim see Ingeborg Huld-Zetsche : 150 years of research in Nida-Heddernheim. In: Nassauische Annalen 90, 1979 pp. 8-9.
9. ↑ For example Jörg Lindenthal, The rural settlement of the northern Wetterau in Roman times . Materials on the prehistory and early history of Hessen 23 (Wiesbaden 2007).
10. ↑ See M. Reuter, The Roman Small Fort in Hanau-Mittelbuchen and the course of the eastern Wetterau Limes under Domitian. In: Egon Schallmayer (ed.), Limes Imperii Romani . Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Saalburg-Schriften 6, 2004 (Bad Homburg vdH 2004), pp. 97-106 and internet source ( Memento from November 15, 2016 in the internet archive ).
11. ↑ See e.g. B. Dietwulf Baatz, Saalburg-Jahrbuch 38, 1982, p. 28 or Jörg Lindenthal, The rural settlement of the northern Wetterau in Roman times. Materials on the prehistory and early history of Hesse 23 (Wiesbaden 2007) p. 8.
12. ↑ Street name directory www.hanau.de
13. ↑ Internet portal for the north-west of Frankfurt