Martin Mushard

Martin Mushard (* 1699 in Bremen ; † October 20, 1770 in Geestendorf ) was an Evangelical Lutheran pastor as well as prehistoric and archaeologist .

biography

Mushard was the son of the genealogist Luneburg Mushard . He attended the cathedral school in Bremen and from 1717 studied at the University of Jena . After that he is said to have been a teacher in Stade . He started digging in and around Stade. In 1729 he was appointed pastor of the Marienkirche in Geestendorf, which he held until his death.

Working as a prehistorian and archaeologist

Mushard has carried out extensive excavation work on the Stader Geest since 1724 , with a particular focus on Bronze Age and Early Iron Age urn graves . He carried out excavations near Ohrensen in 1724 , in Kutenholz in 1726 and around Apensen and Beckdorf in 1728. Later he devoted himself to the Pipinsburg with the neighboring hill forts Heidenschanze and Heidenstatt as well as the megalithic graves such as the Bülzenbett. He brought the results together for his main work Palaeogentilismus Bremensis , for which he also drew the first known representation of the Pipinsburg and its surroundings. He had almost completely finished his work in 1755, but could not find a publisher for it, although Johann Hinrich Pratje certified in 1762 that the content was suitable for publication. He published further research results in magazine articles. He also published excerpts from the Buxtehude chronicle made by his father .

Mushard's estate with its archaeological collection was lost. His main work Palaeogentilismus Bremensis , after being published in extracts in 1838, was only published in full in 1928, the table work being based on traces from around 1910. The original of his manuscript with the drawings he made is kept in the Oldenburg State Library under the signature Cim I 108.

The earlier assessment of Mushard as "the most important prehistoric in Northern Germany" has to be relativized today. His research was quite contemporary. He thought of the megalithic graves as pagan altars on which people were burned as sacrifices. But he was the first to do a lot for archaeological research in the Elbe-Weser triangle .

From the east side of the Marienkirche, the Mushardstraße in Geestemünde connects the street An der Mühle with the Talstraße, Bergstraße and Sachsenstraße.

Works

• Ernst Sprockhoff (ed.): Palaeogentilismus Bremensis . In: Yearbook of the Provincial Museum in Hanover , New Series, Volume 3 (1928) pp. 39–172 with 36 plates
• The oldest weir and weapons from the stone graves. 1757
• The opened monument of the deified doorway. 1759
• Instructions for digging up the urns. 1760
• About the burning of the dead. 1764

literature

• Karl Ernst Hermann Krause:  Mushard, Martin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 98 f.
• Christian Kaufmann: Mushard, Martin . In: CVs between the Elbe and Weser. A biographical lexicon . Landscape Association of the Former Duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2002, ISBN 3-931879-08-9 , pp. 243–245