Leo M. Gard

Leo Michael Gard (born September 18, 1911 in Lockweiler ; † June 8, 1976 in Trier ) was a German archaeologist and journalist .

Career

Gard was born the son of a postman. In 1920 at the latest, the family moved to Trier, where he attended the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium . His teacher Josef Steinhausen , who was interested in archeology, was likely to have awakened Gard's interest in ancient languages ​​and archeology, as did some of the other graduates of the school during these years. After graduating from high school in 1930, he first studied Classical Philology in Cologne and later Classical Archeology and Ancient History in Heidelberg .

Gard chose Roman terra sigillata as the topic for his dissertation , probably because an excavation was being carried out in his home town of Trier at the same time that examined ancient pottery on the banks of the Moselle. During the excavation work from 1933 to 1935, which Gard was in charge of as the local excavation manager of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum , new knowledge actually came about which he was able to use in his 1937 dissertation "Contributions to the knowledge of relief sigillata of the third and fourth centuries" submitted to Carl Watzinger . In it he explained that the forms used to make picture bowls were often used over a very long period of time and that the corresponding vessels therefore did not allow a narrowly limited dating of archaeological findings.

This finding was initially not accepted by the professional world and Gard also failed to publish his work. Due to military service as a front soldier in World War II , he was initially no longer able to continue his scientific work, even if he continued to try to get his work printed. However, this did not come about even after the end of the war, probably (among other things) because the professional world was still critical of his thesis. However, more recently, Gard's findings have largely been confirmed by recent research. He later handed over the typescript and drawings of his dissertation to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, and the publication of the work, which has not yet been outdated, was announced in 2011.

After the war, Gard could no longer gain a foothold professionally in archeology, so that he, living in Trier again since 1950, worked as a journalist (especially for the Trierische Landeszeitung ) in order to earn a living. Since the 1960s, he has also been a part-time supervisor of the archive and library of the Trier Post Office Directorate and has published various articles on postal and regional history.

literature

• Jürgen Merten: Relief sigillata and local history. The Trier archaeologist and journalist Leo M. Gard (1911–1976), in: Funde und Ausgrabungen im Bezirk Trier 43 (2011), pp. 71–85 (with a list of the estate in the Landesmuseum Trier and bibliography).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Merten, Gard, p. 82 and the publisher's homepage: http://www.bag-verlag.de/epages/61699681.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61699681/Products/8388