Hans Heinrich (Enrique) Brüning (Aug. 20, 1848, Hoffeld - July 2, 1928,

Bordesholm Bordesholm is a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in the district Rendsburg-Eckernförde. ''Bordesholm'' is also the name of a former historical district of the Kingdom of Prussia and Weimar Republic for which it was the district capital ...

) was a German-born Peruvian ethnologist and collector of antiquities.

Life & career

Brüning was educated as a mechanical engineer. At the age of 27, he decided to emigrate to Peru, where he immediately found employment as a mechanic on a

sugar plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

in Pátapo. His interest in archaeology apparently began in 1883 when he met

Adolph Bandelier Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier (August 6, 1840March 18, 1914) was a Swiss-born American archaeologist who particularly explored the indigenous cultures of the American Southwest, Mexico, and South America. He immigrated to the United States wit ...

, a specialist in

pre-Hispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

buildings. Following that meeting, he spent many years travelling in Peru taking photographs of ancient buildings and the local inhabitants. He took more than 2,000 photos on glass negatives, which are still preserved. After that, he began collecting archaeological pieces such as ceramics, metals, precious stones and carvings in wood. It was at this time that he decided to make a brief, formal study of

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and archaeology back in Germany, returning to Peru in 1898.

Ethnology

In 1902, Brüning joined a risky expedition to find the shortest route between the Marañon basin and the Pacific coast. Together with the Polish engineer Eduardo de Habich and the landowner

Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro (16 June 1862 - 28 October 1930) was born in Ferreñafe in the Lambayeque Region of Peru. He was one of the pioneers of the exploration of north-eastern Peru and a scientist of many talents - a natural historian, geogra ...

, they found a passage through the Pongo de Manseriche. Brüning made the most of the opportunity to write an ethnographic description of the indigenous Aguarunas. The Moches resisted his efforts to study them, but Brüning was patient and eventually gained their confidence by participating in their local rituals. This success led him to remain in the vicinity and study the

Mochica language Mochica (also Yunga, Yunca, Chimú, Muchic, Mochika, Muchik, Chimu) is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during th ...

. He completed a dictionary of the language that was published in 1917. Some wax cylinders were obtained, which he used to record Mochican music. Today the originals are kept in the Hamburgisches Museum Für Völkerkunde. They are among the first recordings of popular music made in Peru.

Antiquities

By 1916, the ceramic pieces he had collected would no longer fit in his home. He decided to sell part of his collection to the Peruvian government for 60,000 Soles. They were put on display in 1924 and he was named the museum's first director (with a salary of four Soles per month), but his tenure was short because he was in poor health, which prompted him to return to Germany for good in 1925. His full collection is now displayed at the Museo Arqueologico Nacional Brüning in Lambayeque, which opened in 1966. He died of a heart attack on July 2, 1928, in the city of

, within a few days of his eightieth birthday.

Works

* ''Mochica Wörterbuch = Diccionario Mochica : Mochica-Castellano, Castellano-Mochica'', edited with an introduction by José Antonio Salas García, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Escuela Profesional de Turismo y Hotelería (2004) * ''Estudios monográficos del Departamento de Lambayeque'', compiled by James M. Vreeland, Jr., with an introduction by Richard P. Schaedel, Sociedad de Investigación de la Ciencia, Cultura y Arte Norteño (c1989) * ''Fotodokumente aus Nordperu von Hans Heinrich Brüning'', selected and edited by Corinna Raddatz, Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde (1990)

References

External links

Brüning Museum website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruning, Hans Heinrich Archaeologists from Rhineland-Palatinate Ethnologists 1848 births 1928 deaths Peruvian archaeologists People from Ahrweiler (district)