Frans Blom

Frans Ferdinand Blom ( born August 9, 1893 in Copenhagen, † June 23, 1963 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico) was a Danish explorer and archaeologist.

Career

Frans Blom grew up in Copenhagen as a child of a middle class family of antique dealers. His first trip led him in 1919 to Mexico, where he found a job as a purser in the oil industry. He traveled to remote areas in the Mexican jungle and began to take an interest in the culture of the Mayans. He documented and recorded their ruins and was awarded a contract with the National Museum of Anthropology, which also funded some of his expeditions.

Blom learned Sylvanus Griswold Morley archaeologists know, mediated him to Harvard to Boston, where he earned a degree in archeology. He got a job at Tulane University in New Orleans and made during his time there several expeditions to Central America. In 1924 he discovered in Uaxactun in Guatemala previously unknown remains of Mayan systems. His research in the area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec provided the first scientific reports on a number of installations of the Olmec culture. 1930, Blom took very detailed measurements in the so-called "Nuns Quadrangle " of Uxmal on the basis of a faithful reproduction of the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933 made ​​that is not obtained.

1932 married Frans Blom, the U.S. American Mary Thomas; They were divorced after six years. As a result, he began drinking, which is why he lost his job as director of the Middle American Research Institute in Tulane, which he held from 1922 to 1940. He moved to Mexico, where he met the Swiss journalist Gertrude Duby Blom - (1901-1993) and married.

1950 bought the spouses Blom A large estate in San Cristobal de las Casas. They called the house Bolom Na - na means house on Lacandon, the Mayan language, Bolom "Jaguar" and also recalled Blom's name. The Blom went out of the house, a cultural and scientific center with rooms for guests. Today the house is a museum. In addition, the Blom continued expeditions undertook on behalf of the Mexican government. Frans Blom died in 1963 at the age of 70 years.

Publications

  • I de Skove store. Breve fra Meksiko. 1923
  • Tribes and Temples. 1926/1927
  • With Gertrude Duby Blom- La selva Lacandon. 1955
Maya civilization Sylvanus Morley Middle America (region) Century of Progress Casa Na Bolom Integrated Authority File
347929
de