Johan Gunnar Andersson

Johan Gunnar Andersson (1904)

Johan Gunnar Andersson (born July 3, 1874 in Knista, Närke , † October 29, 1960 in Hägersten ) was a Swedish archaeologist , paleontologist and geologist .

Andersson studied at the University of Uppsala and at the age of 25 took part in an expedition to Spitzbergen led by Alfred Gabriel Nathorst . In 1898 Andersson led his own expedition to Bear Island . 1902–1903 he was deputy expedition leader on Otto Nordenskjöld's Swedish Antarctic Expedition .

In 1906 Andersson was appointed professor to head the Swedish Geological Survey Authority. In 1914 he was hired by the Chinese government as a geological advisor. Johan Gunnar Andersson's office was the newly established Chinese National Geological Survey (Dizhi kaochasuo) and its director, Ding Wenjiang , soon became a friend of his. During this time, Andersson helped train Chinese geologists and discovered some iron ore deposits that were very helpful to the burgeoning Chinese industry. Andersson and his Chinese colleagues, such as the researcher Yuan Fuli , later discovered previously unknown human debris from the Neolithic period . These were located in Henan Province on the Yellow River. The era from which the deposits originated was named Yangshao culture after a village where the first finds were excavated in 1921. Between 1923 and 1924 Andersson took part in archaeological excavations in the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai . Andersson also found recognition for the dating of the find in Zhoukoudian near Beijing ( Peking Man ), which he could attribute to the Paleolithic .

In 1926 Johan Gunnar Andersson was commissioned by the Swedish Parliament to set up a museum to house the collection of archaeological objects that Andersson had brought back from China. In the same year, the East Asian Museum of Stockholm was created , which was headed by Johan Gunnar Andersson until 1938. Much of the collection was to be returned under a Swedish-Chinese contract, which was made in seven deliveries between 1927 and 1936. This part of the collection was lost in the following Sino-Japanese War .

Johan Gunnar Andersson has published a number of books and scientific reports. The latter appeared mainly in the annual publications of the East Asian Museum. His book Den gula jordens barn (Children of the Yellow Earth) is well-known and has been translated into several foreign languages.

In Sweden he was mainly known for his Chinese research and was nicknamed China-Gunnar . In China he was called An Tesheng (安特 生). The Andersson Island and the Andersson Nunatak in Antarctica are named in his honor.

literature

• Andersson, Johan Gunnar . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 34 : Supplement: Aa – Cambon . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1922, Sp. 203-205 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
• Johan Gunnar Andersson: The dragon and the strange devils. FA Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1927.
• Bernhard Karlgren: Johan Gunnar Andersson. In Memoriam Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Östasiatiska Samlingarna) Stockholm, Bulletin No. 33, Stockholm 1961.
• Magnus Fiskesjö, Chen Xingcan: China before China. Johan Gunnar Andersson, Ding Wenjiang, and the Discovery of China's Prehistory. Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities [Östasiatiska museet], Stockholm 2004, ISBN 91-970616-3-8 .
• William James Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers - A Historical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2003, ISBN 1-57607-422-6 , p. 22 f. (English).

Web links

• Literature by and about Johan Gunnar Andersson in the catalog of the German National Library