Ferdinand Keller (antiquity scholar)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ferdinand Keller (December 24, 1800 – June 21, 1881) was a Swiss archaeologist. He is mainly known for his investigations of Swiss lake dwellings in 1853–54, and work on the remains of the
La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defi ...
. He is the founder of the Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zürich (Antiquarian Society in Zurich).


Biography

He was born at Marthalen. He studied theology and natural sciences at Zurich, Lausanne, and Paris. In 1831 he was made an instructor at Zurich, and secretary of the Society for Natural Research, and in this capacity he published various works on naked rock soil and vent holes. The discovery of the sepulchral mound at
Burghölzli The ''Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Zürich'' (Psychiatric University Hospital Zürich) is a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland. As a research hospital, it is associated with the University of Zürich. It is also called Burghölzli, after t ...
led to the founding of the Antiquarian Society of which Keller was the longtime president, and to the founding of a museum, the growth of which was largely due to him. His most important discovery was the pile dwelling Meilen–Rorenhaab in the winter of 1853, and in later years the settlements
Zürich–Enge Alpenquai Zürich–Enge Alpenquai is one of the 111 serial sites of the World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site ''Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', of which 56 are located in Switzerland. Geography Located on the then-swampland betw ...
, Kleiner Hafner and Grosser Hafner. In 1857 a ''skeleton wearing bronze jewelry'' was unearthed near Robenhausen, and Jakob Messikommer who later discovered and researched the Wetzikon-Robenhausen settlement, reported the findings to Keller. Keller encouraged him to search for prehistoric remains. The
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
elected Keller an international member in 1863.


Works

His articles on the pile dwelling were published in the proceedings of the Antiquarian Society. He also published ''Bauriss des Klosters Sankt Gallen vom Jahr 820'' (1844), and an archaeological map of Eastern Switzerland (1874).


See also

*
Prehistoric pile dwellings around Zürichsee Prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich comprises 11 – or 10% of all European pile dwelling sites – of a total of 56 prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps in Switzerland, that are located around Lake Zurich in the cantons ...


Notes


References

* This work in turn cites: **Meyer von Knonau, ''Lebensabriss von Ferdinand Keller'' (Zurich, 1882) **Lee, ''The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, and Other Parts of Europe, by Dr. F. Keller'' (2d ed., London, 1878).


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Ferdinand Swiss archaeologists 1800 births 1881 deaths 19th-century Swiss people