Julio Tello

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Julio César Tello Rojas (born April 11, 1880 in Huarochirí , † June 7, 1947 in Lima ) was a Peruvian medic, anthropologist and archaeologist. He is referred to as the "father of Peruvian archeology". He was also the first American archaeologist to be of Indian descent. In the course of his career he made groundbreaking excavations on the prehistoric Paracas culture and founded the national museum of archeology.

Life

Julio Tello was born in 1880 in a village in the province of Huarochirí, the son of the farmer Julián Tello and his wife María Asunción Rojas; Quechua was spoken at home , the most common indigenous language in Peru. He was able to get a top-notch education as the relevant authorities were able to convince the government that the young Julio Tello deserved this promotion.

San Fernando Medical School of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, before 1920

In 1909, Tello graduated from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos with a bachelor's degree in medicine . During his studies he was interested in the technique of trepanation among the indigenous tribes of the Huarochirí region and collected a large number of corresponding skull artifacts. He also studied early childhood diseases within the population. His collection would later form the basis for the corresponding collection at his university. Thus his abilities were recognized early by older scientists, whereby he was further promoted. In addition, despite their age, his studies are still among the most detailed and informative on trepanation in South America .

He was offered a place at Harvard University , where he studied cultural anthropology until 1911 and also did his master's there. Then Tello turned to Europe to study archeology. In 1911 he joined the International Congress of Americanists in England, in which he would later become one of the most prominent members. This also marked the beginning of an internationally oriented life. In 1912 Julio Tello met a young English student at London University , Olive Mabel Cheesman, at the International Congress of Americanists , whom he married that same year.

Julio Tello traveled a lot in the course of his life and invited many foreign scholars to Peru, whereby he founded an international network, to whose environment even Alfred Charles Kinsey belonged, since he granted him access to the extensive erotic collection of his museum. Due to the fact that Tello published a large number of scientific papers in lesser-known Spanish-language handbook series and daily newspapers, his findings were mostly reserved for experts only. Some of his theories and discoveries are therefore little known outside of South America.

Archaeological site in Chavín de Huántar

Tello directed several excavations and contributed to the development of Peruvian archeology. For him, the Chavin culture represents this “mother culture”. The Chavin Citadel has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 .

In contrast to the opinions of his time, he advocated the theory, especially with regard to the Chavin culture, that the indigenous civilizations of Peru had developed autochthonously and not through foreign influences. For a long time, this controversial issue did not seem to have been resolved because “pre- or early forms have not yet been found”. Of all people, Tello's biographer Burger contradicted him in 1992, because he saw the Chavin culture as a fusion of predecessor cultures from the coastal regions and the tropical forest into a cosmopolitan highland culture.

His life's work was his research, which has the goal of introducing the world to the pre-Columbian cultures of Peru. Julio Tello is also interesting for linguists: in 1748 the Franciscan observant Pedro de la Mata wrote a grammar of the Cholón language , Arte de la lengua Cholóna ; In 1772 the Franciscan observant Gerónimo Clota transcribed the work; In 1923 Tello, in turn, transcribed the first part of the 1772 manuscript, making the work more accessible.

By officially employing press and sports photographer Abraham Guillén, who for political reasons no longer received conventional assignments, for his excavations as a documentation photographer, he created the basis for an extensive Peruvian photo archive.

He was a member of Huarochiri from 1917 to 1929 in the Congress of the Republic of Peru , in 1924 he founded the Museo de Arqueología Peruana . He died in 1947 and was buried in the garden of the Museo de Arqueología y Antropología .

In 2005, the Peruvian Post issued a commemorative stamp to mark his 125th birthday .

Archaeological work

Shrunken head of the Jivaro Indians

As early as 1918 Tello was the first scientist to derive an ethnological analogy to the iconography of the trophy heads of the Nazca culture from his knowledge of the headhunting practice of the Jivaro Indians in eastern Peru and Ecuador and to interpret the beheading of the enemy as a ritual act.

Julio Tello worked with his archaeological team in Chavín de Huantar in 1919. There he discovered a stele that was later named the Tello Obelisk in his honor . He dated the construction of the first temple that was discovered there to 850 BC. Chr. The work of his team established the thesis that there is an existing over several centuries cultural center had encountered whose flourished between 500 and 300 BC. . AD may have passed. Until the discoveries of the late 20th century when the culture of the Norte Chico region was discovered, which dates from 3000 to 1800 BC. The Chavín culture was thought to be the oldest in Peru.

Tello is also known for his discovery of 429 bundles of mummies in the Cerro Colorado region on the Paracas peninsula . He first visited the area on July 26, 1925, following an old trade route he had visited back in 1915 to purchase antique textiles in Pisco . On October 25, 1927, he and his team discovered the first 100 ceremonially buried mummy bundles. Tello was the first indigenous excavator in Peru who drove and organized a scientific safeguarding of such finds and used stratigraphy for dating and correlation. In 1928, the removal to secure the mummies began, which to this day provide one of the most important sources for research into the Paracas culture, which dates from 750 BC. Chr. To 100 existed.

Part of a textile funeral mantle from the Paracas culture

The necropolis contained ritual burial sites where the bodies were placed in baskets in a sitting position. Each of the bodies was wrapped in large sheets of knitted cotton that had been embroidered with wool to create special patterns. Tello discovered these fabrics, which he himself found spectacular. Tello and his team found a total of 394 textile artifacts and were able to secure financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation to preserve these finds. Since 1938, more than 180 from this collection have been presented in the exhibition of the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, where Tello's team was also employed. Maria Reiche , who was originally only supposed to help with the conservation and cataloging of the fabrics, was made aware of the enigmatic Nasca lines during this work by both colleagues Paul Kosok . Tello had noted the geoglyphs in his reports as early as 1926, but had shown no further interest in them. On the other hand, his attempts to decipher the production of the unique pottery art of the coastal region are still considered successful today.

In contrast to many of his colleagues, Tello, in association with his compatriot Rafael Larco Hoyle , believed for a long time that the highlands of the Andes were home to high cultures and focused his work on this area. His theories were to prove to be correct in many ways, as he himself proved on the one hand through his excavation finds in Chavin de Huantar and Ayacucho , the center of the Wari culture , and in Pacheco , and on the other hand through the research results of subsequent generations.

Alfred Kroeber (left) with Ishi

In 1936 he founded the Institute for Andean Research (IAR) together with other prominent scientists such as Alfred Kroeber , Samuel Lothrop and Wendell Bennett in order to organize and publish further research.

In 1938 the Peruvian President Oscar R. Benavides announced a reorganization of the state museums. Impressed by the textile finds in Paracas, he authorized the Museo de Antropologia to house these artifacts. On January 3, 1939, Julio Tello was appointed its first director. Today the museum is known as the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Antropología e Historia del Perú .

In the 1940s Tello extensively and repeatedly examined Pachacámac in the coastal region south of Lima, but left behind no technically usable documents about his work.

The Julio C Tello Museum on the Paracas Peninsula is named in honor of Julio Tello.

Fonts (selection)

  • La antigüedad de la sífilis en el Perú . Revista Universitaria. Organo de la Universidad Mayor de San Marcos. Año IV, Vol. IV, pp. 180-212. Lima 1918.
  • El uso de las cabezas humanas artificialmente momificadas y su representación en el antiguo arte peruano . Lima 1918
  • Introducción a la historia Antigua del Perú . Lima 1921.
  • Andean civilization: some problems of peruvian archeology , USA 1928
  • Antiguo Peru. Primera epoca. Editado por la Comisión Organizadora del Segundo Congreso Sudamericano de Turismo. Lima 1929.
  • The river bus in the style of Chavin . Ed. Antena, Lima 1937.
  • Las primeras edades del Perú . Museo de Antropología, Lima 1939.
  • Discovery of the Chavin culture in Peru . Lima 1943.
  • Arqueología del valle de Casma. Culturas: Chavín, Santa o Huaylas Yunga y Sub-Chimú . Informe de los trabajos de la Expedición Arqueológica al Marañón de 1937. Lima, Editorial San Marcos 1956.
  • Paracas , primera parte. Vol. 1. Publicación anthropológica del Archivo "Julio C. Tello" from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Lima 1959.
  • Guia de las ruins of Pachacamac . Soc. Acad. de Estudios Americanos, Lima 1961.
  • Chavin. Cultura matriz de la civilización andina . Primera parte. Publicación anthropológica del Archivo "Julio C. Tello" from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Vol. II. Lima 1970. (1st edition 1960)
  • Páginas escogidas . Selección y prólogo de Toribio Mejía Xesspe. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Lima. 1976.
  • Julio C. Tello: Discovery of the Chavin Culture in Peru . In: American Antiquity . Volume 9, Number 1, 1943, pp. 135-160, JSTOR 275457 .

literature

  • Jorge Basadre : Historia de la República del Perú. 1822-1933 , Octava Edición, corregida y aumentada. Tomo 14, pp. 3542-3544. Editada por the Diario "La República" de Lima y the Universidad "Ricardo Palma". Impreso en Santiago de Chile, 1998.
  • Richard L. Burger: The prehistoric occupation of Chavin de Huántar, Peru. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley 1984, ISBN 0-520-09667-3 .
  • Richard L. Burger: Chavín de Huántar and Its Sphere of Influence. in: Helaine Silverman, William H. Isbell: Handbook of South American archeology. Springer, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-387-74906-8 . Pp. 681-701
  • Richard L Burger: The life and writings of Julio C. Tello. America's first indigenous archaeologist . University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 2009, ISBN 978-1-587-29783-0
  • Christopher B. Donnan: Early Ceremonial Architecture in the Andes. Dumbarton, Washington 1985, ISBN 0-88402-135-1 .
  • Karen Olsen Bruhns: The First Civilizations: 2000-200 BC. in: Ancient South America. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 1994, ISBN 0-521-27761-2 . Pp. 126-155
  • Peter N. Peregrine: Encyclopedia of prehistory - South America. Kluwer Academic Publ., New York 2002, ISBN 0-306-46261-3 . Pp. 38-57
  • Alberto Tauro del Pino: Enciclopedia Ilustrada del Perú . Tercera Edición. Tomo 16. TAB / UYU. Lima, PEISA, 2001. ISBN 9972-40-165-0
  • Grandes Forjadores del Perú . Lima, Lexus Editores, 2000. ISBN 9972-625-50-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julio Cesar Tello ( Memento from February 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Nora Valeska Gores: Anthropological literature - literary anthropology ?: The Hispanoamerican testimonio between the worlds . Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg 2008, p. 30.
  3. ^ Margarita Díaz-Andreu, Margarita Díaz-Andreu García: A world history of nineteenth-century archeology: nationalism, colonialism, and the past . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, p. 184.
  4. ^ Richard L. Burger, Abstract of "The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello," University of Iowa Press, accessed February 22, 2011
  5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naya.org.ar
  6. ^ Helaine Selin, Hugh Shapiro: Medicine across cultures: history and practice of medicine in non-Western cultures . Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht a. a. 2003, p. 238.
  7. ↑ Arthur C. Aufderheide, Conrado Rodríguez-Martín, Odin Langsjoen: The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 170.
  8. ↑ The International Congress of Americanists, 1875–2006 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.53ica.com
  9. ↑ Especially on his travels inland, which opened up new theories for him regarding Chavin: Brian Fagan: The Ancient Civilizations . In: Orin Starn, Carlos Iván Degregori, Robin Kirk: The Peru reader: history, culture, politics . Duke University Press, Durham 2005, pp. 24f.
  10. ^ For example: Alpheus Hyatt Verrill ; Doug Frizzle: Never a Dull Moment: The Autobiography of A. Hyatt Verrill . Stillwater Lake 2008, p. 260.
  11. ^ Virginia Kerns Scenes from the high desert: Julian Steward's life and theory . University of Illinois Press, Chicago 2003, p. 214.
  12. ↑ Example: Herman B. Wells: Being lucky: reminiscences and reflections . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1980, p. 270.
  13. ↑ See: Richard W. Keatinge: Peruvian prehistory: an overview of pre-Inca and Inca society . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 1987, p. 165.
  14. ↑ Dieter Eisler: Old America. Guide to the American Archeology Department exhibition . Published by the Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin, 3rd revised edition Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-88609-191-0 , p. 120.
  15. ^ Peter I. Bogucki: The origins of human society . Wiley-Blackwell 1999, p. 300. Burger, 1992, p. 156.
  16. ↑ Otto Zwartjes, Cristina Altman (ed.): Missionary Linguistics II. Lingüística misionera II. Orthography and Phonology. John Benjamin Publishing Company, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 90-272-4600-9 , p. 182.
  17. ↑ Abbye A. Gorin: The Art of Documentary Photography: a Peruvian Son's Contribution to the World Data Base of Social Scientific Photography ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / lal.tulane.edu
  18. ↑ www.stampcenter.com ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stampcenter.com
  19. ^ Charles W. Mead, Paul Tice: Old Civilizations of Inca Land . 1st ed. 1935, Reprint Tree Book, San Diego 2002, p. 72.
  20. ^ Donald A. Proulx: A sourcebook of Nasca ceramic iconography: reading a culture through its art . University of Iowa Press, Iowa 2006, p. 58.
  21. ^ Tim Murray: Milestones in archeology: a chronological encyclopedia . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2007, p. 498.
  22. ↑ http://chavin.perucultural.org.pe/obelisco.shtml ( Memento from October 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ See the significance of the discovery; Jerry D. Moore: Architecture and power in the ancient Andes: the archeology of public buildings . Cambridge University Pressm, Cambridge u. a. 2003, p. 50ff.
  24. ^ For classification: Arthur C. Aufderheide: The scientific study of mummies . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 2003, p. 17.
  25. ↑ Description of the excavation site adopted by Tello in English. Translation by: Edgar Lee Hewett: Ancient Andean life . Biblo & Tannen, New York 1968, pp. 238ff.
  26. ↑ Jane Feltham: Peruvian Textiles . Shire Ethnography 1989, ISBN 0-7478-0014-6 .
  27. ^ Maria Reiche: Peruvian Ground Drawings / Peruvian Ground Drawings . Ed .: Kunstraum München eV, Munich, 1974.
  28. ^ Anthony F. Aveni: Between the lines: the mystery of the giant ground drawings of ancient Nasca, Peru . University of Texas Press, Austin 2000, p. 94.
  29. ^ Brian Haughton: Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries . New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, NJ 2007, p. 170.
  30. ^ S. Linné: The Ethnologist and American Indian Potter : in: Symposium On Ceramics and Man , 1961, p. 37.
  31. ^ Peter J. Ucko: Theory in Archeology: A World Perspective . Routledge, London 1995, p. 200.
  32. ↑ Garth Bawden: The Moche . Blackwell Publ., Cambridge, Mass./Oxford 1996, p. 22.
  33. ^ William Harris Isbell, Gordon Francis McEwan, Dumbarton Oaks: Huari political organization: prehistoric monumental architecture and state government . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC 1990, p. 4.
  34. ^ Alan L. Kolata: Understanding Tiwanaku. Conquest, Colonization and Clientage in South Central Andes . In: Don S. Rice (ed.): Latin American horizons: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 11th and 12th October 1986 . Washington, DC 1993, pp. 193-224, here p. 200.
  35. ↑ John Wayne Janusek: Ancient Tiwanaku . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York / Cambridge 2008, p. 270.
  36. ^ About the common plans since the meetings of 1915 and 1923: Theodora Kroeber : Alfred Kroeber; a personal configuration . University of California Press, Berkeley 1970, p. 146.
  37. ↑ Cecilia Bákula, Laura L. Minelli, Mireille Vautier: The Inca world: the development of pre-Columbian Peru, AD 1000 - 1534 . Norman Univ. of Oklahoma Press 2000, p. 12.
  38. ^ Peter N. Peregrine, Melvin Ember: Encyclopedia of prehistory: South America . Vol. 7, Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York 2002, p. 147.
  39. ^ Alan Murphy, Ben Box: Peru handbook . Footprint Travel Guides 2003, p. 300.
personal data
SURNAME Tello, Julio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tello Rojas, Julio César (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Peruvian medic, anthropologist and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Huarochirí
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 1947
Place of death Lima