Karl Riehm

Karl Riehm

Karl Franz Botho Riehm (born May 16, 1891 in Halle an der Saale ; † September 2, 1983 there ) was a German doctor and researcher in the field of prehistoric salt production and nutritional science .

Life

Karl Riehm is the grandson of the theologian Eduard Riehm and son of the grammar school teacher and photographer Gottfried Riehm . He grew up as the second of seven children in Halle and attended the city high school where his father taught. In 1911 he passed the Abitur . He studied medicine in Freiburg , passed his physics course in Halle on February 28, 1914 and moved to Munich . During the First World War he was used as a junior doctor on the Western Front . Letters to parents and three photo albums exist in the Halle city archive from the war period . In 1918 he continued his studies in Halle, passed the state examination on October 20, 1919 and obtained his doctorate on December 30 of the same year .

On April 21, 1921 he settled in the Giebichenstein district as a general practitioner. On April 15, 1922, he married Gertrud Frick, a daughter of the doctor Conrad Frick. During the Second World War , Karl Riehm was employed as a senior staff doctor in France, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, the Soviet Union and Poland. On May 3, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the British and by the Soviets on April 25, 1946. He came to the Krasnogorsk camp via the Erfurt, Sachsenhausen, and Frankfurt / Oder camps . He was released on January 1, 1950.

He resumed his practice in Halle. His wife Gertrud died of pulmonary tuberculosis on January 9, 1948 , and his sister Katharina Roux, who was widowed at an early age, ran the household for him. It was only at the age of 89 that he closed his practice. He died on September 2, 1983 in Halle and is buried in the Laurentiusfriedhof .

Researches

Prehistoric salt production

In 1938, when he was building his house at Fährstraße 6, numerous fragments of typical clay pillars and containers from the Bronze Age and Iron Age came to light. He knew from his father Gottfried Riehm that such coarse-grained (with sand) ceramics, the so-called briquetage , was used in prehistoric times to extract salt from the liquid brine . How these devices were used was not known. He also observed other construction sites in Halle and, in agreement with the management of the Museum of Prehistory, put together an extensive collection of various unique finds (transferred to the State Museum in 1961). He was in correspondence with many salt researchers around the world, some of whom he got to know through their visits to Halle or his participation in conferences where he presented his research.

In the time when there were no coins and hardly precise scales, salt was a sought-after means of payment or primitive money . However, it was not traded in a pourable state, because then it was also susceptible to moisture during transport, but in solid form. Karl Riehm compared prehistoric salt boilers in many countries around the world and found that their different clay shapes were ideally suited to give the salt a solid shape of a certain size, i.e. to produce pieces of salt of the same weight as possible in series, for example in the shape of a sugar loaf or a hemisphere or block. The respective shape and size were also the trademarks of the manufacturers. It is interesting that the shapes from Japan and Niger are amazingly similar to those from Halle. Karl Riehm had read about the recent salt supply for the natives in Africa (A. Springer, 1918), and then the French archaeologist Pierre Gouletquer organized an expedition to Mangaland (Niger) in 1973. There he and Dorothée Kleinmann were able to photograph and describe the entire process of form salt extraction and thus confirm Riehm's theory (PL Gouletquer, D. Kleinmann: The Salinen des Mangalandes and their importance for researching prehistoric briquette sites in Europe. Mitteilungen d. Anthrop. Gesellsch. In Vienna, Vol. CVIII, 1978, 49 pages). In the State Museum of Prehistory their photos are presented.

Research on nutrition

As a doctor, Karl Riehm pointed out the influence of table salt on the human organism. During the transition from hunter-gatherer life to agriculture and animal husbandry , the low-salt crops resulted in a lack of salt in the diet, which made the invention of different methods of salt production necessary. Karl Riehm considered his publication in the treatises of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina 1974 as his medical will : "The consumption of technically isolated nutrients - a avoidable risk factor in disease, study on the evolution and prophylaxis of anthropogenic diseases". In it he warns against food without fiber and other natural additives, e.g. B. against too much sugar, fine flour, fat and recommends z. B. Fruits, vegetables and lots of exercise.

Memberships and honors

On June 7, 1960, Karl Riehm received the Leibniz Medal of the Berlin Academy of Sciences in recognition of his services to research into prehistoric salt production and the prehistoric salt trade. On December 10, 1961, the GDR Minister of Health appointed him to the Medical Council , on May 11, 1964, the German Archaeological Institute elected him a corresponding member, and on May 16, 1971, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina made him an honorary sponsor. With Kurt Mothes he belonged to the cathedral chapter in Naumburg for ten years . On December 11, 1973, the Minister of Health of the GDR awarded him the certificate of honor and gold medal for 30 years of loyal service in health and social services. On May 16, 1976, the Saltworkers Brotherhood in Thale zu Halle accepted him into the Halloren Circle of Friends and made him an honorary brother-in-law.

bibliography

Publications on prehistoric salt production

• Prehistoric salt extraction on the Saale and Seille. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 38, 1954, pp. 112–156.
• The Halleer's menu 2500 years ago. Hallesche Monatshefte, 7, 1954, pp. 11–12.
• The tools of the saltworkers in the past. Hallesche Monatshefte, 4, 1957, pp. 139–145.
• New insights into the technology of the prehistoric art of salt boiling. Research and progress, B 31, H. 2, 1958, pp. 47-49.
• Standardized clay containers for form salt production in the past. Excavations and Funde 4, H. 1, 1959, pp. 1-5.
• The Red Hills of the English coast and their problems. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 43, 1959, pp. 228–244.
• The form salt production of prehistoric salt boilers in Europe. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 44, 1960, pp. 180–217.
• Brine wells and saltworkers' settlements in the prehistoric and early historical hall. Scientific journal of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Bes.-Sprachw. / 11X / 3, 1961, pp. 849-858.
• Prehistoric salt boiling. Antiquity, London 35, 1961, pp. 181-191.
• Compte rendu de "Jacques Nanquin: Salt, a Study in Economic Prehistory". Helinium, Weteren, Belgium, Vol. I, 3, 1961, pp. 277-279.
• Plant and equipment of prehistoric salt boilers. Germania 40, 1962, pp. 360-400.
• The stone chambers of Mesquer (Brittany), former salt kilns of the Celts. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 46, 1962, pp. 219–300.
• The Heinrich-Heine-Felsen (Lehmanns Felsen) in Halle (Saale) as a Late Bronze and Early Iron Age settlement. Scientific journal of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Ges Sprachw. XII / 11, 1963, pp. 923-942. (with K. Nuglisch)
• The mechanization of central German salt boiling in the Hallstatt period. From prehistory and early history, 2, Berlin, 1964, pp. 92–96.
• Standardized form salt from prehistoric salt mining in Hallstatt. Archaeologia Austriaca, 38, Vienna, 1965, pp. 86-98.
• The production technology of prehistoric salt boilers. New excavations and research in Lower Saxony, 4, Hildesheim, 1969, pp. 98-122.
• Insightful new finds in the prehistoric salt boiler area of ​​southern Brittany. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 53, 1969, pp. 361–74.
• New discovery of early Iron Age salt forms in Halle (Saale). Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 56, 1972, pp. 159–201.
• From Solquell to Solbrunnen, a topographical study on the founding history of the city of Halle. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 57, 1973, pp. 197–209.
• The salt boiler area HALLA and the Carolingian fort on Giebichenstein. Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 58, 1974, pp. 295–320.
• A four-humped clay pillar from the Bronze Age salt boiler area at Giebichenstein near Halle, a previously unique find. Ausgrabungen und Funde, 29, 1984, pp. 176-178.

Publications and manuscripts on diet and medical history

• Consumption of technically isolated nutrients - a preventable risk factor in disease - Study on the evolution and prophylaxis of anthropogenic diseases. Nova Acta Leopoldina, NF 41, 1975, pp. 493-510.
• The salt supply of prehistoric and the nutritional habits of contemporary humans. (Manuscript, 53 pp.)
• The increasingly rich in building materials during the tribal history, a crucial factor in evolution. (Manuscript, 17 pp.)

Publications and manuscripts on anthropogenesis

• The skull structure of early man as an expression of his forest life and his further development. Counterbauer morphol. Jb., Leipzig, 1980, 126, 6, pp. 884-899.
• How did flattening of the upper and lower leg bones of fossil and recent people come about? Z. Ethnol. 106, 1981, pp. 269-274.
• The curved arm and leg bones of the Neanderthal man as a certificate of his way of carrying as a toddler. Z. Ethnol. 109.1984 (in press).
• Manuscript: Asia and Africa's Unequal Suitability as Habitat for the Incarnation. - Study on basic human genetic research. (55 p.)
• Manuscript: The statement of the structure of fossil human bones about the habitat and way of life of early humans. (54 p.)
• Manuscript: The tropical-subtropical mountain world of South Asia, an optimally qualified area of ​​human development. (55 p.)

literature

• J. Breitner et al. a .: Isaak Riehm and Charlotte Riehm with their descendants. A family book . Mannheim: 2011, pp. 179-181
• V. Toepfer: In memoriam Karl Riehm with his list of writings . Annual journal for Central German Prehistory, 68, 1985, pp. 357–364. ( Full text on the Heidelberg University website)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Archive signature AU 1290 and FA 3585