Johanna Mestorf

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Johanna Mestorf with an imperial fibula as a collar closure
Johanna Mestorf
Memorial stone in the women's garden

Johanna Mestorf (born April 15, 1828 in Bramstedt / Holstein , † July 20, 1909 in Kiel ) was a German prehistoric archaeologist and was one of the first women in the Kingdom of Prussia to hold the title of professor .

life and career

Johanna was the fourth of nine children of the doctor Jacob Heinrich Mestorf, who in addition to his medical work also devoted himself to antiquity research. When he died in 1837, Mestorf moved with her mother Sophia Katharina Georgine nee Körner to Itzehoe , where she attended the secondary school for the Blöckersches Institut. In 1849 she moved to Sweden as an educator, where she also learned Nordic languages. In 1853 she returned to Germany and in the following years traveled several times to France and Italy to accompany an Italian countess. From 1859 she lived in Hamburg, where in 1867 she accepted a position as secretary for foreign correspondence. In addition to her professional activity, she managed to acquire extensive archaeological knowledge on an autodidactic basis.

From 1863 Johanna Mestorf translated important works of Scandinavian archeology into German. In addition, she wrote fiction as well as archaeological and folkloric articles and essays from the 1860s . In 1868 she started volunteering at the Museum of Patriotic Antiquities in Kiel . On November 5, 1873 she was appointed custodian and in 1891 director. After Amalie Buchheim in Schwerin, she was one of the first female museum directors in Germany. In 1899, on her 71st birthday, she was the first woman in Prussia to be awarded the title of honorary professor at the University of Kiel . Ten years later, she received an honorary doctorate from the university's medical faculty. In 1891 she became an honorary member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory and was appointed a corresponding member in nineteen international scientific societies. The focus of her research was the prehistory of Schleswig-Holstein , so she coined the terms of the individual grave culture for the north German / south Scandinavian area of ​​the cord ceramic cultures , the research material she had received from the hobby archaeologist Heinrich Holm and teacher Schlüter. Magnificent coat for particularly representative rectangle coats and bog body of the finds of human bodies and body parts from bogs . Johanna Mestorf played a key role in ensuring that the Danewerk and many other sites could be investigated at an early stage and preserved over the long term.

Johanna Mestorf was once buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg. There is a memorial stone for them in the women's garden at the Ohlsdorf cemetery.

Johanna Mestorf Prize

The Johanna Mestorf Academy and the Graduate School Human Development in Landscapes have been awarding the Johanna Mestorf Prize, endowed with 3,000 euros, every two years since 2013 .

Fonts (selection)

  • Wiebeke Kruse, a Holstein farmer's daughter. A sheet from the time of Christian IV. Meissner, Hamburg 1866.
  • The Archaeological Congress in Bologna. Records . Meissner, Hamburg 1871.
  • The International Archaeological and Anthropological Congress in Stockholm on August 7-16, 1874 - seventh meeting . Meissner, Hamburg 1874
  • The International Congress of Anthropologists and Archaeologists in Budapest from September 4 to 11, 1876 - eighth meeting . Meissner, Hamburg 1876.
  • The patriotic antiquities of Schleswig-Holstein. Address to our compatriots . Meissner, Hamburg 1877.
  • Prehistoric antiquities from Schleswig-Holstein . To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Museum of Patriotic Antiquities in Kiel. Meissner, Hamburg 1885.
  • Catalog of the prehistoric monuments in the Germanic Museum. Rosenberg's collection . Germanic Museum, Nuremberg 1886.
  • Urn cemeteries in Schleswig-Holstein . Meissner, Hamburg 1886.
  • From the stone age. Graves without stone chamber below ground level . In: Messages from the Anthropol. Association in Schleswig-Holstein . Lipsius & Tischer, Kiel 1892, pp. 9-24, ISSN  0179-9703
  • Bog bodies . In: 42nd report of the Museum of Patriotic Antiquities at the University of Kiel. Kiel 1900.
  • together with Karl Albert Weber (ed.): Dwellings of the older Neolithic period in the Kiel Föhrde . Lipsius & Tischer, Kiel 1904.
  • Guide through the Schleswig-Holstein Museum of Patriotic Antiquities in Kiel. Schmidt & Klaunig, Kiel 1909.

literature

  • Eva-Maria Mertens:  Mestorf, Johanna. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 227 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Julia K. Koch and Eva-Maria Mertens (eds.): A lady between 500 gentlemen. Johanna Mestorf - work and effect . (= Women - Research - Archeology Volume 4). Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8309-1066-5 .
  • Hubert Schmidt : Johanna Mestorf . In: Prehistoric Journal . 1909, p. 110f.
  • Prof. Johanna Mestorf . In: Nicole Schultheiß: There is no such thing as impossible ... 24 portraits of outstanding women from Kiel's city history . Kiel 2007, p. 57 ff.
  • Dagmar Unverhau (Ed.): "Yours sincerely, your authority most devoted Gustav Schwantes" the correspondence between Gustav Schwantes and Johanna Mestorf 1899 to 1909 and its use in the priority dispute with Friedrich Knorr (= writings of the Archaeological State Museum Volume 5). Wachholtz, Neumünster 2000, ISBN 3-529-01826-0 .
  • Dagmar Unverhau: Another woman's life. Johanna Mestorf (1828–1909) and "her" Museum of Patriotic Antiquities at the University of Kiel. 3 volumes. Wachholtz, Kiel 2015, ISBN 978-3-529-01807-7 .
  • Anna Ziel: From volunteering to recognized science. Johanna Mestorf's archaeological career was unique in northern Germany in the 19th century . In: Ancient World . Volume 38, 2007, Issue 1, pp. 46-48.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Knorr: Professor Dr. Johanna Mestorf . In: Communications from the Anthropological Association in Schleswig Holstein . 1911, pp. 1-19.
personal data
SURNAME Mestorf, Johanna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archaeologist, Germany's first female museum director
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Bramstedt / Holstein
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1909
Place of death Kiel