Mortimer Wheeler

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Mortimer Wheeler
SIR MORTIMER WHEELER 1890-1976 Archæologist lived here.jpg

Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler (born September 10, 1890 in Glasgow , † July 22, 1976 in London ) was a British archaeologist and one of the most important explorers of the Indus culture .

Live and act

Mortimer Wheeler was already musically gifted as a child and adolescent, drawing and writing. At the London Art Academy , however, he quickly discovered that he was not suitable for an artistic career. It took a long time before he decided on an archaeological career. He studied Classical Studies at University College London and obtained his Masters in 1912. He then worked for the Royal Commission of Historical Monuments and, from 1913, made contacts with all the important archaeologists in his country. As the holder of a scholarship donated by Arthur Evans , which the latter doubled with his own resources, he traveled to the Rhineland to draw ceramics. In 1914 he married Tessa Verney , who was to support his work significantly from now on. Their son Michael was born a year later. Beyond that, too, his life changed. He was drafted into the British Army because of the First World War . Initially, Wheeler was only used as an artillery instructor in England. Towards the end of the war he was transferred to the French front and experienced some of the worst moments of the war. Unlike many other soldiers, what he experienced later did not cause him any problems worth mentioning, on the contrary: He probably fondly remembered this time, especially since as an officer he enjoyed commanding. During the war, he made further finds in Belgium, northern France and the Rhineland. With his notes, the dissertation was almost complete and shortly after the war, Wheeler received his doctorate. He also quickly and deliberately wrote a book on prehistoric and Roman Wales.

In 1920 Wheeler became director of the National Museum of Wales . At first he camped with his wife on camp beds in the museum, which he completely rearranged. In Segontium he carried out his first excavations. During this time he also began to use the press. For a planned excavation in Caerleon , a Roman settlement, he brought the rumor of King Arthur and his round table into circulation, which attracted considerable press coverage. Since he was appointed director ( keeper ) of the Museum of London in 1926 , he was unable to carry out this excavation and his wife Tessa stood in for him as director. Nevertheless, he carried out numerous excavations in Great Britain during his activity, including in Maiden Castle . Again and again Wheeler had little affairs. When his wife died in an operation in 1936, he was with a woman in Palestine and Egypt and only found out about Tessa's death from the newspaper on his return. Although he had lost his most important confidante and colleague, he continued his career and became more and more the darling of the press. During the Second World War he fought in various units.

In 1944, Wheeler retired from the army, resigned from the management of the Museum of London, which he reorganized from the ground up like the Welsh National Museum before, and became director of the Archaeological Survey of India at the age of 54 . Here he stood out above all through excavations in Mohenjo-Daro . Among other things, he helped set up the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi . In 1954 he was ennobled for his services as an archaeologist.

During his excavations, Wheeler revived old and almost forgotten excavation techniques of Augustus Pitt Rivers , which included, among other things, the subdivision of an excavation field into grid squares. He later refined these methods with his wife and Kathleen Kenyon , and they went down in archeology as the Wheeler-Kenyon method . He was in contrast to the methods represented by Gerhard Besu , for example, who in his plans did without dividing lines in the layers. These stratifications, however, were already interpretations that turned an objective plan into an already interpreted document. Max Mallowan spoke highly of Wheeler, who, however, besides his infidelity, had other character weaknesses. He used people and dropped them when he no longer needed them and was often merciless in his judgment. He was a notorious self-promoter to the press. Nevertheless, his merit lies above all in making archeology part of the consciousness of large parts of the population, while the practical work was probably done by his wife.

From 1933 he was a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute . In 1941 he was elected a member ( Fellow ) of the British Academy .

Publications (selection)

  • The excavation of Maiden Castle, Dorset: second interim report. Society of Antiquaries of London 1936
  • Archeology from the earth . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1954; German modern archeology. Methods and technique of excavation. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1960
  • Five thousand years of Pakistan; an archaeological outline. Royal India & Pakistan Society, London 1950
  • Roman art and architecture . London 1964
  • Civilizations of the Indus Valley and beyond . McGraw-Hill, New York 1966
  • Flames Over Persepolis: Turning Point in History. Weidenfels and Nicholson, London 1968; German flames over Persepolis. Alexander the Great and Asia. Ullstein, Berlin 1969

literature

Web links

Commons : Mortimer Wheeler  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wheeler, Mortimer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wheeler, Sir Robert Eric Mortimer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1976
Place of death London