Thomas Gann

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Thomas William Francis Gann (born May 13, 1867 in Murrisk , Ireland ; † February 24, 1938 in London ) was a British physician who was the first archaeologist to study the pre-Columbian Maya culture in what is now Belize .

Live and act

Gann grew up in Whitstable , attended The King's School in Canterbury and then studied medicine. In 1894, according to other sources, in 1892, he went to British Honduras (today: Belize ), where he worked as a surgeon and was supposed to help deal with the consequences of an earthquake. In British Honduras he also held the post of District Medical Officer and then until 1923 the post of Chief Medical Officer .

In addition to his medical work, Gann devoted himself to the excavation of ruins from the pre-Columbian Maya culture, making him the first archaeologist in this part of Central America. He did not have any relevant training. The sites he explored include those of Santa Rita Corozal , Xunantunich (1894–1895, 1924), Nohmul (late 1890s, excavations 1908–1909 and 1935–1936) and Lubaantun (1903, 1924–1925). During excavations sponsored by the Carnegie Institution , he met Eric Thompson , and he went on expeditions with his friend, Sylvanus Morley .

In addition to scientific articles, Gann published several travelogues that were aimed at a broader audience and, in addition to depicting archaeological topics, sometimes also contain ethnographic content.

From 1908 Gann worked as a lecturer at the newly founded Institute for Archeology at the University of Liverpool , where parts of his collections were temporarily kept. His activities in Liverpool ceased from 1914. Information about later activities at the university, such as Eric Thompson's biographical considerations, cannot be substantiated.

Gann was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society . Many of his finds were acquired by the British Museum .

He was married to Mary Wheeler from 1929. He died at the age of 71 in a London retirement home.

reception

From around 1895 Gann's archaeological activity was taken up in his home country. In his book Decolonizing Development: Colonial Power and the Maya , Joel Wainwright describes Thomas Gann as arguably the most popular Maya researcher of his time and also attests to his professional recognition during his creative period. The book Mystery Cities is nevertheless characterized by the “language of an amateur” and racist statements.

The archaeologist David M. Pendergast describes the procedure in the excavations led by Gann, and also continued in his absence, as "destructive". Another work comes to the conclusion that Gann was primarily concerned with the "discovery of aesthetically pleasing" found objects and less with careful excavations and their documentation. Gann used explosives to gain access to sites. Such methods were not mentioned in his reports. Norman Hammond renounced a retrospective assessment of Gann's methods, but links more restrictive regulations on dealing with historical sites in British Honduras from the years 1924 and 1929 to Gann's previous excavation work.

Fonts (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Eric Thompson: Thomas Gann in the Maya ruins. In: British medical journal. Volume 2, Number 5973, June 1975, pp. 741-743, ISSN  0007-1447 . PMID 1095123 . PMC 1673974 (free full text).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Colin Wallace: Reconnecting Thomas Gann with British Interest in the Archeology of Mesoamerica: An Aspect of the Development of Archeology as a University Subject. In: Bulletin of the History of Archeology. 21, 2011, S., doi : 10.5334 / bha.2113 .
  3. ↑ a b Obituary Mr. Thomas Gann. In: The Times . February 25, 1938, p. 18.
  4. ↑ Diane Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase: Late Postclassic Ritual at Santa Rita Corozal Belize: Understanding the Archeology of a Maya Capital City ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 254 kB). In: Research Reports in Belizean Archeology . Volume 5, 2008, pp. 79-92.
  5. ^ A b Joel Wainwright: Decolonizing Development: Colonial Power and the Maya. Wiley-Blackwell, 2008, ISBN 1-4051-5705-4 . doi : 10.1002 / 9780470712955 .
  6. ^ British Museum: Purchased from Dr Thomas Gann . Retrieved March 2, 2013.
  7. ↑ See also. Additions to the British Museums. In: The Times . May 16, 1938, p. 21. and Maya Carving in Jade. In: The Times . October 10, 1938, p. 11.
  8. ^ David M. Pendergast: The center and the edge: Archeology in Belize, 1809-1992. In: Journal of World Prehistory. 7, 1993, pp. 1-33, doi : 10.1007 / BF00978219 .
  9. ^ Heather McKillop, Jaime Awe: The History of Archaeological Research in Belize. In: Belizean Studies Volume 11, Number 2, pp. 1-9.
  10. ^ Norman Hammond: The Development of Belizean Archeology. In: Antiquity . Volume 57, Number 219, 1983, pp. 19-27.
personal data
SURNAME Gann, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gann, Thomas William Francis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British medic and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Murrisk , Ireland
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1938
Place of death London