Peter Schmidt (archaeologist)

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Peter Johannes Schmidt (born May 3, 1940 in Hamburg-Rahlstedt ; † May 7, 2018 in Mérida , Mexico) was a German archaeologist specializing in Mayan culture .

Life

Schmidt, the son of a businessman, attended the Meiendorf elementary school from 1947 to 1952 , and then went to the Sankt Ansgar School in Hamburg until he graduated from high school in 1959 . From 1959 to 1966 he studied American studies , ethnology and prehistory at the University of Hamburg. His academic teachers were Franz Termer and Günter Zimmermann in American studies, Erhard Schlesier in ethnology and Walter Matthes and Hans Jürgen Eggers in prehistory. In 1962/63 he took part as an assistant in an archaeological expedition of the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology and Prehistory to southern Central America. Following this expedition, from 1965 to 1967 he worked as an assistant in the America Department of this museum in evaluating the excavation results. Schmidt received his doctorate in 1967 on the burial forms of the Indians of southern Central America at the University of Hamburg.

Schmidt had lived in Mexico since the mid-1970s and died there in 2018.

Act

From 1959 to 1960 he made excavations in Germany, from 1961 to 1963 he worked on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua . From 1968 to 1971 he was the Archaeological Commissioner of Belize and, among other things, dug in Cahal Pech . In 1973 he went to Mexico as director of the Huejotzingo project, where he worked in Chichén Itzá , El Meco and Kohunlich, among others .

Schmidt formulated the guidelines for the protection and conservation of Chichén Itzá at the end of the 1970s, where he has led the archaeological research project since 1993.

In 2014 he received the UNESCO Medal for Cultural Diversity for his contributions to the preservation and knowledge of the Yucatan's historical heritage . In 2015 he was awarded the Yuri Knorosow Medal.

literature

  • The burial forms of the Indians of southern Central America. An archaeological-ethnological study . Hamburg 1968 (dissertation).
  • Chichén Itzá and Prosperity in Yucatan . In: Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1990, pp. 182-211.
  • together with Mercedes de la Garza and Enrique Nalda (eds.): Maya . Rizzoli, New York 1998.
  • together with Rocio González de la Mata and José F. Osorio: The Divine Flow: Water Management at Chichén Itzá . In: Juan Pedro LaPorte, Bárbara Arroyo and Héctor E. Mejía (eds.): XVIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala 2004 . Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Guatemala 2005, pp. 847-855.
  • together with Bruce Love: Hieroglyphic Texts From El Osario, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán . In: Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing , 59th Boundary End Archeology Research Center, Barnardsville, NC 2009.
  • Birds, Ceramics, and Cacao: New Excavations at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan . In: Jeff K. Kowalski, Cynthia Kristan-Graham ( eds .): Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá, Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World . Dumbarton Oaks, New York 2011, pp. 113-155.

proof

  1. ^ The forms of burial of the Indians of southern Central America. An archaeological-ethnological study . Hamburg 1968 (dissertation).
  2. ↑ a b c d eluniversal.com.mx: Peter Schmidt, especialista en la civilización maya , accessed on July 24, 2018
  3. ^ Yucatanexpatlife.com: Archaeologist Peter Schmidt dies; devoted more than 4 decades to studying Maya , accessed July 24, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Peter Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archaeologist specializing in Maya culture
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg-Rahlstedt
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 2018
Place of death Merida , Mexico