Kurt Bittel

Kurt Bittel ( born July 5, 1907 in Heidenheim an der Brenz, † January 30, 1991 in Heidenheim an der Brenz ) was a German prehistorians. As president of the German Archaeological Institute ( DAI) and excavator of the Hittite royal city of Hattusa in Turkey, but also as an expert for the Celts in Central Europe, he acquired great merit.

Life and career

At the age of 13 years Bittel undertook his first excavations in a grave mound at Oggenhausen. He was helped by three years the younger brother Heinz Bittel.

Kurt Bittel studied in Heidelberg, Vienna, Berlin and Marburg. At 22 he received his doctorate in Gero von Merhart about the Celts in Württemberg. 1930/31 he received a travel grant from the German Archaeological Institute, which first led him to Hattusa. 1930 to 1932 he participated in excavations in Egypt. In 1931 he was first assistant, then 1933 Speaker at the Archaeological Institute of the German Empire Istanbul in Martin Schede. From 1931 to 1977, Bittel director of excavations at the Hittite capital, Hattusa, wherein him his longtime collaborator Peter Neve succeeded. For October 1, 1937 Bittel joined the NSDAP ( Mitglieds-Nr. 4457046 ). In 1938 he became the first director of the Istanbul Department of the DAI. In 1942 he held guest lectures in Istanbul. The Istanbul Department of the DAI was closed in 1944 and reported Bittel from Turkey.

1946 took over Bittel Professor of Prehistory and Early History at the University of Tübingen, where in 1950, together with Adolf Rieth and Wolfgang Kimmig began the excavations at Hallstatt Heuneburg. 1951 Bittel returned to Turkey as director of the Istanbul Department of the DAI back; In addition he held from 1951 to 1960 as a visiting professor at the University of Istanbul. In 1952, he discovered Daskyleion at Bandırma. In 1959 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 1960 to 1972 he was president of the German Archaeological Institute. From 1972 he was a regular member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. On January 30, 1991 Kurt Bittel died in his home town of Heidenheim, which made him an honorary citizen. Since 1989, awards the city of Heidenheim Kurt- Bittel Award for Süddeutsche archeology, outstanding research achievements in the field of pre-and early history of southern Germany is awarded to every two years.

Awards and honors (excerpt)

  • Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1955 )
  • Honorary member of the İstanbul Enstitüsü (1955 )
  • Honorary Corresponding Member of the Prehistoric Society of Great Britain, Oxford ( 1956)
  • Türk Tarih Kurumu honorary member of the ( Turkish Historical Society ), Ankara (1959 )
  • Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin (1965 )
  • Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (1965 )
  • Honorary member of the Société Archéologique de Yougoslavie ( Arheološko Društvo Jugoslavije ), Belgrade (1966 )
  • Honorary citizen of the city of Heidenheim (1967 )
  • Member of the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (1967, Chancellor of the Order 1971-1979, 3rd Vice-Chancellor from 1979 to 1980, 2nd Vice-Chancellor 1980-1984 )
  • Foreign Honorary Member of the Archaeological Institute of America, New York ( 1967)
  • Honorary Doctor of the University of Istanbul (1969 )
  • Honorary Member of the German - Turkish Association, Bonn (1970 )
  • Honorary Member of the Society for Pre-and Early History in Württemberg and Hohenzollern (1977 )
  • Austrian Decoration for Science and Art, Curia of Science (1978 )
  • Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts / USA ( 1980)
  • Medal of Merit of the State of Baden -Württemberg ( 1982)
  • Honorary Member of the German Archaeological Institute ( 1982)
  • Great Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1984 )
  • Honorary Doctorate Anadolu Üniversitesi Eskişehir, Turkey ( 1990)

Writings (selection )

  • The Celts in Württemberg. Roman-Germanic research 8 (Berlin, Leipzig 1934)
  • The rock art of Yazilikaya. New footage of the German Bogazköy Expedition 1931 ( Bamberg 1934)
  • Prehistoric research in Asia Minor (Istanbul 1934)
  • ( with Hans Gustav Guterbock ) Bogazköy. Recent studies in the Hittite capital (Berlin 1935)
  • The ruins of Bogazköy, the capital of the Hittite empire. Short description (Berlin 1937)
  • ( with Rudolf Naumann, Heinz Otto ) Yazilikaya. Architecture, petroglyphs, inscriptions and small finds (Leipzig 1941, reprint Osnabrück 1967)
  • ( with Rudolf Naumann) Bogazköy II New research Hittite Architecture ( Berlin 1938)
  • ( with Adolf Rieth ) The Heuneburg on the upper Danube, an early Celtic princely seat. Preliminary report on the excavation of 1950 ( Stuttgart, Cologne 1951)
  • Small Asian Studies. Istanbul Releases 5 (Istanbul 1942, reprint Amsterdam 1967)
  • Ön Asya. Tarih Öncesi Caglari. - Misir, Filistin, Suriye ( İstanbul 1945)
  • Broad Pre-and Early History of Asia Minor ( Heidenheim 1945, 2nd exp. Edition, Tübingen 1950)
  • ( with Rudolf Naumann et al ) Bogazköy III. Finds from the excavations 1952-1955 (Berlin 1957)
  • ( with Hans G. Guterbock etc.) Bogazköy IV finds from the excavations in 1967 and 1968 ( Berlin 1969)
  • Hattusha. The Capital of the Hittites (New York 1970)
  • Bogazköy Guide (Ankara 1971, spending in German, Turkish, English, French and Italian editions nd)
  • V. ( with Hans G. Guterbock etc.) Bogazköy finds from the excavations in 1970 and 1971 (Berlin 1975)
  • ( with Hans G. Guterbock etc.) The Hittite rock sanctuary Yazilikaya (Berlin 1975)
  • The Hittites (Munich 1976 editions in French Paris 1976 chip. Madrid in 1976, Ital. Milano in 1977 and 2005, Greek Milano 2005)
  • ( inter alia with Hans -Gert Bachmann ) Bogazköy VI. Finds from the excavations until 1979 (Berlin 1984)
  • (Ed. with Wolfgang Kimmig, Siegwalt Schiek ) The Celts in Baden- Württemberg (Stuttgart 1981)
  • Hattusa - Hittite capital. History and culture of ancient Near Eastern Great Power Status ( Cologne, 1983, 3rd edition 1991, Japanese edition 1991 Tokyo )
  • ( with Siegwalt Schiek, Dieter Müller) The Celtic Viereckschanzen. Part 1: Text, Part 2: side dishes. Atlas archaeological site monuments in Baden -Württemberg Vol 1/1 and 1 /2 ( Stuttgart 1990)
  • Travel and excavations in Egypt, Asia Minor, Bulgaria and Greece 1930 - 1934 (Stuttgart 1998)
  • How I came to archeology. Memories and travelogues ( Heidenheim 2007)

See the complete list of publications Rainer Michael Boehmer, Harald Hauptmann: Bibliography of Kurt Bittel. In: Rainer Michael Boehmer M. (ed.): Contributions to the Archaeology of Asia Minor. Festschrift for Kurt Bittel. of Saverne, Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-8053-0585-0, pp. 537-553.

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