Walo Burkart

Walo Burkart

Walo Burkart (born April 25, 1887 in Magden , † November 28, 1952 in Chur ) was a Swiss forester and archaeologist who mainly worked in the canton of Graubünden .

Life

Walo Burkart's father, Sebastian Burkart, was a Christian Catholic pastor in Rheinfelden and also served as the city's historian. Walo first attended the schools in Rheinfelden, then the secondary school in Basel. After passing his Matura , he went to the ETH Zurich and became a forester . After a brief activity in the canton of Bern, Burkart was elected to the cantonal forestry office of the canton of Graubünden in Chur in 1912, where he initially worked as a temporary worker.

In 1916 Burkart became the district forester for the canton of Graubünden and traveled throughout the canton in this activity. Around 1927 he began to search the canton of Graubünden for archaeological sites. He combined many of his official tours with archaeological investigations. Thanks to his extensive contacts, he found support for his projects everywhere. Almost every year he carried out excavations for two to three weeks.

Walo Burkart carefully documented his investigations. He had the finds from the individual excavations determined by experts. He published numerous technical reports and gave lectures in scientific societies. In 1952, Walo Burkart, who had been struggling with health problems in the last few years of his life, died shortly before his retirement.

activity

Crestaulta hill to the right of Surin village

The mother in Falera

In the course of his research, Burkart discovered and described the remains of over forty prehistoric settlements. Among the sites that he discovered belong Crestaulta in Val Lumnezia , the Peter Hill at Cazis that Mutta in Falera , the settlements Crépault at Trun and Padnal in Savognin , the Bronze Age settlement at San Vittore and the Iron Age necropolis at Castaneda . As a thank you for his work, Castaneda granted Burkart honorary citizenship in 1934, which was extended by the canton to cantonal citizenship; an honor that made him particularly happy.

Burkart was a member of the Historical and Antiquarian Society of Graubünden, which always supported him in his work. Burkart's superior cantonal authority repeatedly granted him special leave for his research. The Swiss Society for Prehistory, in which Burkart was also involved as a board member, supported him financially and with advice, assistance with excavations and the publication of his results.

Burkart's name and his publications became known abroad through the Swiss Society for Prehistory. In 1950 the International Prehistoric Congress took place in Graubünden.

Fonts

• Crestaulta. A Bronze Age hill settlement near Surin in Lugnez (= monographs on the prehistory and early history of Switzerland. 5, ZDB -ID 500765-3 ). Birkhäuser, Basel 1946.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Monument Preservation GR; Annual report 2009  ( 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.  
2. ^ René Wyss: The Bronze Age hill settlement Cresta near Cazis, results of the excavations from 1943 to 1970: Part 1 The settlements; Part 2 The small finds (without pottery) . Swiss National Museum, 2002 ( google.de [accessed June 25, 2018]).
3. ↑ Patrick Nagy: Castaneda. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 20, 2005. Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
4. ^ Obituary written by Karl Keller-Tarnuzzer in: Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Prehistory. Vol. 43, 1953, ISSN  0252-1881 , pp. 10-12 .