Heinrich Bell
Heinrich Bell (born June 25, 1907 in Weiler near Bingen ; † May 1, 1986 ibid) was a German lay researcher and important collector of prehistoric artifacts .
Life
Heinrich Bell grew up on his parents' winery, which he later took over. He was interested in prehistory and early history at an early age and discovered the first stone-age legacies as a child . As a soldier he took part in World War II . During this time he was stationed in East Prussia for a long time , where he succeeded in discovering a Mesolithic camp site in the dune sand of a lake. Within a few weeks he found various processed microliths which he handed over to the museum there.
After the war, he continued his research in the vicinity of his winery and expanded his collection. He trained himself further and developed his own theories about the dating of his finds. A controversy arose with Gustav Behrens , the archaeological curator responsible at the time, about the chronological classification of some finds in the Paleolithic . It was only gradually that Bell was able to prevail against the opinion of professional scientists. Alfred Rust was one of the first to recognize and publish his theory. Rust, who was already considered a luminary at the time, visited Bell's winery personally and encouraged him to do further research.
collection
Bell's collection of prehistoric artifacts was established as early as the 1930s. Already at a young age, Bell was able to prove Neolithic settlements in his homeland by finding ceramic and stone tools . The Bell collection finally comprised more than 5,000 individual items. About 1,000 of these are cataloged in a find report. The collection mainly relates to finds from Weiler near Bingen. The largest part includes stone age tools. Heinrich Bell's pioneering achievement was that he recognized Paleolithic tools as such at a time when the Paleolithic was unknown in the Nahe valley. The later term "Nahe Paleolithic" was co-founded by his work. Today part of the Bell collection is in the Landesmuseum Mainz . Another part can be seen in the so-called "Heinrich-Bell-Saal" in the hamlet town hall.
literature
- Birgit Heide (Ed.): Living and dying in the Stone Age . von Zabern, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-8053-2949-0 .
- Kurt Hochgesand: Heinrich Bell, founder of Paleolithic research in the Binger area. In: Binger history sheets. 19, 1996, ISSN 0724-1089 , pp. 77-94, ( online ).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bell, Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German archaeologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 25, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamlet near Bingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 1, 1986 |
| Place of death | Hamlet near Bingen |