Wolfgang Gockel

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Wolfgang Gockel (born November 21, 1945 in Rönsahl , † March 3, 2005 in Helsinki ) was a German archaeologist . His studies on the deciphering of Mayan script are unanimously rejected by the experts.

Life

After graduating from school in Bochum , he began an apprenticeship as a locksmith, which he quickly gave up in order to go to sea. After his qualification as an able seaman, he worked on ships from 1963 to 1969. It was at this time that his interest in archeology was aroused.

Gockel served in the Bundeswehr from 1969 to 1975 , where he became a helicopter pilot. In 1975 he passed his Abitur and began studying archeology in Cologne , Bonn and Göttingen with a focus on the Middle East , Assyriology and classical archeology . He finished his studies in 1979 with a diploma thesis on "Contemporary style, workshop and landscape style in the sculpture of Mesopotamia and Elam from the early Sumerian period to the early dynasty".

During his studies in ancient American studies ( pre-Columbian ethnology ) at the Department of Ethnology at the University of Bonn from 1975 to 1977 he was confronted with Mayan script for the first time .

After graduating, Gockel worked as a tour guide and freelance archaeologist on excavations and on special projects for museums and private collectors. While working on such a project at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in the spring of 1987, Gockel spent the evenings puzzling over Mayan script. He developed a new approach and tried to apply this approach to deciphering the inscriptions from the ruins of the Mayan city ​​of Palenque in Chiapas , Mexico .

Gockel's work, which was ready for publication in the fall of 1988, generated a sensation - partly because his results were radically different from those of other scientists and partly because he had decided to publish his work first in the German weekly newspaper Stern , which the other German news sources shared with viewed some skepticism. The Süddeutsche Zeitung took a rather positive position.

The scientific publication was rated negatively in Spektrum der Wissenschaft , the German edition of Scientific American (see also the statement by Gockel and one of the reviewers who reviewed the Stern publication). A planned conference in the Roman and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim , at which Gockel was supposed to face his critics, did not take place.

Gockel's Palenque book was translated into Spanish and published in Mexico in 1995 . The Spanish edition and some draft manuscripts of unpublished work were later made available online.

In addition to his work on deciphering the Mayan hieroglyphs , Gockel published several travel guides on Latin America and the Middle East .

Publications (selection)

  • Syria, Lebanon , Nelles Verlag, Munich 1988.
  • The story of a Mayan dynasty. Deciphering classical Mayan hieroglyphs using the example of the inscriptions from Palenque. Zabern, Mainz 1988.
    • Spanish: Historia de una dinastía Maya. El desciframiento de los jeroglíficos mayas de acuerdo con las inscriptiones de Palenque, Editorial Diana, Mexico 1995 ( online ).
  • Mexico. The Central Highlands and Yucatán: From Mayan and Aztec sites to Baroque churches and convents. DuMont, Cologne 1998 (travel guide, 3rd edition 2005).
  • Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, Mayan cities and colonial architecture in Central America. DuMont, Cologne 1999 (travel guide).
  • Iraq. Sumerian temples, Babylon's palaces and holy places of Islam in Mesopotamia. DuMont, Cologne 2001.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.gockelmayatheory.com/
  2. ↑ Bertold Riese: Reseña bibliográfica a Wolfgang Gockel, La historia de una dinastía maya: El desciframiento de los glifos clasicos con base en las inscripciones de Palenque [The story of a Maya dynasty, Mainz 1988] . In: Antropología 27, No. 7-9, pp. 46-49. Mexico.
  3. ↑ a b Bertold Riese: Wolfgang Gockel: The history of a Maya dynasty: deciphering classic Maya hieroglyphs using the example of the inscriptions from Palenque . In: Spektrum der Wissenschaft , January 1990, pp. 130-134 and August 1990, p. 9 [reply to two letters to the author].
  4. ↑ Klaus Thews: How the Maya writing was deciphered . In: Stern Vol. 41, No. 26, June 23, 1988, pp. 32-54.
  5. ↑ Chatting stones - 'World-Exclusive' in the "Stern": Once again a hobby researcher claims that he alone correctly deciphered the Mayan glyphs. Science smiles . In: Der Spiegel Vol. 30, July 25, 1988, pp. 146b-147.
  6. ↑ a b G. P. [Günter Paul]: Glyphen . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung June 24, 1988, with replies from Friedrich Wilhelm V. Schmidt “Polemik gegen Gockel”, August 7, 1988 and Wolfgang Gockel, “Maya Glyphen und Interpretationen”, August 8, 1988.
  7. ↑ Renate Scheiper: One less secret in the tropical rainforest. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. February 20, 1990 [Supplement No. 42, p. 50].
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Gockel: The history of a Maya dynasty. Zabern, Mainz 1988.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Gockel, “Book Review (January 1990)” in Spectrum of Science, August 8, 1990, p. 8.
  10. ↑ Russell Block, “Book Review (January 1990)” in Spectrum of Science, Aug. 8, 1990, p. 8.
  11. ↑ “Journal: Maya-Glyphiert?”, Die Welt, June 23, 1988; Wolfgang Patzke, “Found the key to a centuries-old secret”, Volksblatt Berlin, July 3, 1988; "Mayan script deciphered?" Bremer Nachrichten (dpa), June 23, 1988.
  12. ↑ Historia de una dinastía Maya. El desciframiento de los jeroglíficos mayas de acuerdo con las inscriptiones de Palenque Editorial Diana, Mexico 1995.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gockel, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Rönsahl
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 2005
Place of death Helsinki