Martin Claus (prehistoric)

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Martin Claus (born September 8, 1912 in Eckolstädt ; † January 2, 1996 in Nienburg / Weser ) was a German prehistorian and from 1964 to 1974 a state archaeologist of Lower Saxony .

Life

Martin Claus spent his youth in Thuringia and graduated from high school in Bad Salzungen in 1932 . He then studied prehistory and early history at the Universities of Königsberg , Jena and Marburg , where he joined the Association of German Students' Associations. His studies were interrupted by the Reich Labor Service . In 1939 Claus received his doctorate as Dr. phil. at the University of Jena, where he held a position as a research assistant. In 1942 his dissertation on the topic of "The Thuringian Culture of the Early Iron Age " was published in Jena .

During the Second World War he was a naval artilleryman from 1940 and was wounded three times during the war . In Norway he was taken prisoner of war . In the post-war period , after a period of unemployment and an internship as a bricklayer, he was briefly employed as a research assistant. He worked for the Zonal Fine Arts Repository in Schloss Celle .

In 1948 Martin Claus got a job at the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, where he became custodian in 1959 and head of the newly founded department for prehistoric and early historical monuments in 1961. When a department for soil conservation was founded in the Lower Saxony State Administration Office in 1964 , he was given the management. In 1965 he was appointed state archaeologist. Lively excavation activity developed under him in Lower Saxony . He united the network of voluntary helpers in the preservation of monuments that was torn by the war . Despite his management functions, he carried out excavations, for example at the Pipinsburg near Osterode am Harz and the Palatinate Pöhlde . In addition, from 1956 to 1960 he examined the gallery grave of Sorsum , which was discovered in 1955 during quarry work.

In 1970 Claus was one of the founding members of the Archaeological Commission for Lower Saxony . For many years he was a member of the Roman Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute . As a result of the regional reform in Lower Saxony in 1974, the position of state archaeologist was transferred to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Art and Science , where he worked as a consultant on the draft of the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act (1978).

Martin Claus enlivened his publishing activities, among other things, by introducing the series of material booklets on the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Thuringian culture of the older Iron Age. (Grave, hoard and individual finds). Diederichs, Jena 1940 (also published in 1942 as: Irmin. Prehistoric yearbook of the Germanic Museum of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Vol. 2/3, 1940/1941 (1942), ZDB -ID 219335-8 ; also: Jena, Universität , Dissertation, 1939).
  • Pöhlde, Osterode district (= guide to the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony. Issue 5, ZDB -ID 186273-X ). Lax, Hildesheim 1971.
  • Archeology in the southwestern Harz foreland (= guide to the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony. Issue 10). Lax, Hildesheim 1978, ISBN 3-7848-1910-9 .
  • The Pipinsburg near Osterode am Harz. Lower Saxony State Administration Office, Hanover 1986.
  • Palithi. The excavations at the Wallburg König Heinrichs Vogelherd near Pöhlde (City of Herzberg in the Harz, District of Osterode am Harz) (= material booklets on the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony. 23). Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-1068-3 .

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Not in the list of employees at Lothar Pretzell: Das Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 109-110.
personal data
SURNAME Claus, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prehistorian
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Eckolstädt
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1996
Place of death Nienburg / Weser