Otto Hauser (archaeologist)

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Otto Hauser with the skeleton of the man by Combe Capelle (1909)

Otto Hauser (* 12. April 1874 in Wädenswil , † 14. June 1932 in Berlin ) was a Swiss art dealer and mostly self-taught working archaeologist . He was the discoverer of famous Paleolithic sites in the Dordogne department , where he carried out large-scale archaeological excavations from 1906 to 1914. Some of his popular science books on prehistory achieved high editions and have been translated into other languages.

Life

Youth in Switzerland

Otto Hauser had a great interest in archeology during his youth. From 1892 to 1894 he studied classical philology , history and archeology at the University of Basel , from 1894 to 1900 at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich . From 1897 to 1898 he carried out excavations in the Roman camp of Vindonissa and discovered the remains of the Windisch amphitheater . A highlight was the discovery of the silver pan, a one-kilogram Roman ladle for wine, which he sold privately in December 1898 in the Helmhaus in Zurich.

Activities in the Dordogne department

In the same year he had the opportunity to carry out excavations in the Dordogne department on his own, which he began in Chez-Pataud. In 1904 Hauser opened an antiquarian bookshop in Munich . In spring 1906 he began excavating at the La Micoque site near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, which has been known since 1895 and had already been investigated by Louis Capitan , and published the first results. At the same time he developed a business acumen for marketing Paleolithic finds from the Dordogne. From 1906 Hauser had a place of residence right next to the Laugerie-Haute site (the so-called standing quarters) and now worked regularly in Les Eyzies and on the sites he leased. For this purpose, he organized independently working excavation teams, which, under his guidance, excavated at different sites in parallel. By 1910 he leased 20 sites in the area around Les Eyzies . As Hauser himself mentions, he had a total of 34 sites excavated. The most important of these sites were:

  • Chez Pataud (excavation 1898)
  • Laugerie-Basse (excavations 1898/1899 and 1907)
  • La Micoque (excavation 1906)
  • Le Moustier , Le Ruth, Longueroche, Fongal, Combe Capelle (excavations from 1907)
  • La Souquette, Badegoule (excavation 1910)
  • Laugerie-Haute, Thenon, La Rochette, La Balutie, La Faurelie (excavations 1910–12)

As early as 1906 he was selling a large number of hand axes (so-called micoque wedges) that he found during the excavations in La Micoque to museums and collectors. The Natural History Society of Nuremberg was also able to acquire a “representative collection” of French prehistory finds from Otto Hauser in 1906.

In 1907, during excavations in Laugerie-Basse, Hauser discovered the “workshop of the bone carvers” and the “wild catching pits” of Laugerie-Haute . In 1908 he was also the first to dig in the lower abbey of Le Moustier , where one of his excavation workers uncovered the skeleton of a young Neanderthal man . This was salvaged on August 12, 1908 by Otto Hauser together with the anthropologist Prof. Hermann Klaatsch and was given the scientific name Homo mousteriensis Hauseri .

One of Hauser's most important discoveries was the skeleton of the man from Combe Capelle, recovered in 1909 in the Couze valley near Montferrand-du-Périgord , which he called Homo aurignacensis Hauseri and which he placed in the Aurignacien on the basis of supposed grave goods . To finance further excavations, he sold both skeletons to Berlin. In 1910 the French newspaper Le Matin published an article against Hauser because of the - from the French point of view unscrupulous and greedy for profit - sales of finds, especially to Germany. For Hauser it can be argued that during his excavations he already had geodetic measurements of important findings and find layers carried out with a leveling device. His excavation methods were, however, very controversial among specialist colleagues. In 1913 a law for the protection of antiquities came into force in France . Until then, the sale of finds on your own property was legal under French law. The now applicable export ban brought Hauser increasingly into financial difficulties.

Third phase of life in Germany

Otto Hauser's grave in the Wilmersdorf cemetery

Because of the emerging chauvinism at the outbreak of World War I , Hauser was suspected of being a spy by the French and had to flee Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil on August 2, 1914 . In August 1914, Hauser's living, working and collection rooms in Les Eyzies were searched and 1153 letters were confiscated. This was followed by the confiscation of all of Hauser's property with all excavation documents by the French state, which was officially confirmed in 1921. 1916 Hauser has been at the University of Erlangen with a thesis on the Micoquian doctorate . In it Hauser established the cultural stage of the Micoquien, the basics of which he had previously published in smaller papers.

Without carrying out further archaeological excavations, he earned his living with lectures in popular science and books in various places, mostly in Berlin . From 1925 to 1929 he lived in Weimar , from 1929 until his death again in Berlin. The books, especially the overview work Man 100,000 Years Ago , had a large number of copies at the time and enjoyed popularity with the general public.

Otto Hauser's grave at Wilmersdorf cemetery was kept as an honorary grave for the State of Berlin from 1990 to 2014 . The following words are written on his gravestone: “I gave my life to German science. I didn't find any recognition. But the awareness of having achieved and wanted something good. 1874-1932 ".

Fonts

  • A Roman military hospice. Gull, Stäfa 1897.
  • The Vindonissa amphitheater. Gull, Stäfa 1898.
  • The battle for Vindonissa. Gull, Stäfa 1898.
  • Vindonissa: the standing quarters of the Roman legions, represented in words and pictures after its excavations. Polygraphisches Institut, Zurich 1904.
  • The latest excavations on La Micoque (Dordogne) and their results for the knowledge of the Palolithic culture. Stünzi & Co, Schaffhausen 1907.
  • Le Périgord Prehistorique: Guide pour les excursions dans les Vallées de la Vézère et de la Dordogne et pour l étude de leurs stations préhistoriques. Regue, Le Bugue 1911.
  • La Micoque. The culture of a new diluvial race. Veit & Comp, Leipzig 1916.
  • Man 100,000 years ago. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1917. Swedish edition: Människan för 100,000 år sedan. Gebers, Stockholm 1918
  • Primitive man and savage: a parallel between primeval days and the present. Ullstein, Berlin 1920. Swedish edition: Urmänniskor och vildar. Gebers, Stockholm 1919. Yiddish edition: Urmensh un ṿilder a paralel tsṿishn der farhisṭorisher tsayṭ un der itsṭiger. 1923.
  • Life and goings-on in primeval times that our youth should know. Bong, Berlin 1921.
  • The rise of the oldest culture. Freedom bookstore, Berlin 1922.
  • The primal development of mankind. Freedom bookstore, Berlin 1922.
  • Where mankind was cradled: a story. Freedom bookstore, Berlin 1922.
  • Customs of primeval times. Freedom bookstore, Berlin 1922.
  • Primeval animals. Freedom bookstore, Berlin 1922.
  • What is Prehistory ?: a lecture in the cycle “Introduction to Prehistory”. Thuringian VA, Jena 1923.
  • Primeval times and ethnology. Thuringian VA, Jena 1924.
  • To the paradise of primitive man. Three decades of primeval world research. Thuringian VA, Jena 1925.
  • The great central European primeval race: La Micoque - Ehringsdorf - Byči skála - Předmost - Kišla Nedžimova. Beltz, Langensalza 1925.
  • Prehistory: Based on practical excavations and research. Thuringian VA, Jena 1925.
  • From prehistoric man and his world to man of the present: an introduction to understanding the culture of prehistory. Wachsmuth, Leipzig 1926.
  • The Earth's Ice Age and Flood: Their people, animals and plants. Stilke, Berlin 1927.
  • New documents on human history. Verlag für Urgeschichte und Menschforschung, Weimar 1928. (Collection of articles, as editor).
  • Primeval world . Gutenberg Book Guild, Berlin 1929.

Findings from Hauser's excavations and bequests

literature

  • Karl Brandt: Otto Hauser, the tragedy of a researcher of prehistory. Refo, Witten 1970. ( Mannus library. New series 1.)
  • Rudolf Drößler : Escape from Paradise. Life, excavations and discoveries of Otto Hauser. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1988, ISBN 3-354-00168-2 .
  • Herbert Ullrich (Ed.): The Neandertal Adolescent, Le Moustier 1, New Aspects, New Results. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-38609-498-7 .
  • Rudolf Drößler, Manuela Freyberg: The Swiss archaeologist Otto Hauser and the private scientific collection "Otto Hauser" in Zeitz In: Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt 1/2002 p. 46 ff.

Web links

Commons : Otto Hauser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louis Capitan: La station acheuléenne de la Micoque. Revue mensuelle de l'Ecole d'Anthropologie Paris, 1897.
  2. ↑ a b Otto Hauser: The latest excavations on La Micoque (Dordogne) and their results for the knowledge of the Paleolithic culture. Schaffhausen. Stünzi & Co., 1906/1907.
  3. ↑ Otto Hauser: Into the paradise of primitive man. 25 years of pre-world research. Hofmann & Campe, Hamburg 1922.
  4. ^ A b Christian Züchner: The Palaeolithic finds in the Prehistory and Early History Collection of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In: Leif Steguweit (Hrsg.): People of the Ice Age: Hunters - Craftsmen - Artists. Praehistorika, Fürth 2008, pp. 103-104 ( PDF download )
  5. ↑ a b Andreas Dirian: The "Neischl Collection" of the Natural History Society Nuremberg eV In: Leif Steguweit (Hrsg.): People of the Ice Age: Hunters - Craftsmen - Artists. Praehistorika, Fürth 2008, pp. 108–115 ( PDF download )
  6. ^ Hermann Klaatsch, Otto Hauser: Homo mousteriensis Hauseri: an ancient diluvial skeleton find in the Dordogne department and its affiliation to the Neanderthal type. Friedrich Vieweg and son, Braunschweig 1909.
    The skull of Homo Moustériensis Hauseri back in Berlin. Illustration of the skull of " Homo moustériensis Hauseri" in: Praehistorische Zeitschrift. Volume 43–44, issue 1–2, p. 1, doi: 10.1515 / prhz.1966.43-44.1-2.1
  7. ↑ Almut Hoffmann: Le Moustier and Combe Capelle: The Palaeolithic finds of the Swiss archaeologist Otto Hauser. Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-88609-482-0 . Museum of Prehistory and Early History, National Museums in Berlin: Inventory catalog Volume 9
  8. ↑ Otto Hauser: About a new chronology of the middle Paleolithic in the Vézèretal. Dissertation. Erlangen, Leipzig 1916.
  9. ↑ Wilfried Menghin (ed.): Le Moustier and Combe Capelle. Inventory catalog of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 9, 2003
  10. ↑ Hans Geer: Unpublished complexes of finds from Otto Hauser's excavations in the Prehistory and Early History Collection of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. A contribution to the study of classical stations of the Paleolithic in south-west France. Dissertation. Erlangen, 1971 PDF download (300 MB)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.uf.uni-erlangen.de  
  11. ↑ Otto Hauser's finds in the Prehistory and Early History Collection of the University of Erlangen ( Memento from January 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Otto Hauser's private scientific collection
personal data
SURNAME Hauser, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss prehistory researcher
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Waedenswil
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1932
Place of death Berlin