Hermann Junker (29 November 1877 in

Bendorf Bendorf () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Koblenz. Structure of the town The town consists of the following districts: *Bendorf *Sayn *Mülhofen *St ...

– 9 January 1962 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

best known for his discovery of the Merimde-Benisalam site in the West

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...

in 1928.Merimde Beni Salama site in Delta is larger than was thought
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Early life

Junker was born in 1877 in Bendorf, the son of an accountant. In 1896 he joined the seminary at

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

, studying theology, where he developed an interest in philosophy and oriental languages. After four years of study Junker entered the priesthood and became a chaplain in

Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...

, continuing his language studies with Alfred Wiedemann in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, gradually devoting himself only to Egyptology. Hermann junker

Professional education

In 1901 Junker began studying under

Adolf Erman Johann Peter Adolf Erman (; 31 October 185426 June 1937) was a renowned German Egyptologist and lexicographer. Life Born in Berlin, he was the son of Georg Adolf Erman and grandson of Paul Erman and Friedrich Bessel. Educated at Leipzig and Ber ...

in Berlin, publishing his dissertation in 1903 titled "On the writing system in the Temple of Hathor in Dendera". In 1906 he published a grammar of the texts at

Dendera Dendera ( ar, دَنْدَرة ''Dandarah''; grc, Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; Bohairic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, translit=Nitentōri; Sahidic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ, translit=Nitntōre), also spelled ''Denderah'', ancient ...

, which got him an appointment in 1907 as associate professor of Egyptology at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. In 1908 he traveled for the first time to Egypt for the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

to help document the texts in the

Temple of Philae ; ar, فيلة; cop, ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕ , alternate_name = , image = File:File, Asuán, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 93.jpg , alt = , caption = The temple of Isis from Philae at its current location on Agilkia Island in Lake Nasse ...

. As a member of the Egyptian Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences he was officially proposed as a field director.

Professional work

In winter 1909–1910 Junker began the first official Austrian excavations in the village of Tura near Cairo, where he found rich prehistoric finds that he sent to the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

in Vienna. The following winter he led excavations at El-Kubanieh north of Aswan, finding prehistoric tombs and cemeteries from the Middle Kingdom and the Nubian C-group. His interest in the ancient Nubian people drew him to the town of Toschke in Middle

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

, which he excavated in 1911–1912. As a result of his work, in 1912 he was appointed full professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna. In January 1912 he began excavating

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

, engaging in three campaigns by 1914 covering an area of 15,000 square meters and more than 600 graves. On 10 January 1913 he discovered Mastaba of Kaninisut. Shortly after the decision was made to purchase the cult chamber of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in order explore the typical grave architecture of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

. The fourth campaign for 1914–1915 was already in the pipeline when

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

prevented further work. Even after the war, the economic situation in Austria and the political situation in Egypt (which remained until 1922 a British protectorate) prevented further work. In January 1926 the fourth campaign began, continuing to the south side of the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...

in 1928 in the seventh campaign. After Giza, Junker began excavating the Merimde-Benisalame site in the West Delta. In seven campaigns from 1928 to 1939 he uncovered an extensive Neolithic free settlement that became one of the most important for this epoch. In 1929 Junker took over the management of the German Institute of Egyptian Archaeology of the Cairo Department of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

. In 1934 he became professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, where he taught for 10 years. Caught by surprise on vacation at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, excavations in Egypt had to stop. The Cairo Department was moved first to Berlin, then in 1943 to Vienna. During the war Junker continued to work on the publication of materials on Giza, and never returned to Egypt.

Selected publications

* Die Grabung auf dem Mastabafeld von Gizeh. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1912. * Vorbericht über die zweite Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Gizeh vom 16. Dezember 1912 bis 24. März 1913. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1913. * Vorläufiger Bericht über die dritte Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Gizeh vom 3. Januar bis 28. April 1914. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1914. * ''The Austrian Excavations, 1914.'' Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 1 (1914), pp. 250–253. * Bericht über die ägyptische Expedition im Frühjahr 1925. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1925. * Vorläufiger Bericht über die vierte Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Gizeh. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1927. * Vorläufiger Bericht über die fünfte Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Gizeh. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1928. * Vorläufiger Bericht über die sechste Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Gizeh. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1929. * Vorläufiger Bericht über die siebente Grabung bei den Pyramiden von Giza vom 27. November 1928 bis 25. Februar 1929. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1929. * Gîza I. Die Mastabas der IV. Dynastie auf dem Westfriedhof. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1929. * Gîza II. Die Mastabas der beginnenden V. Dynastie auf dem Westfriedhof. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1934. * Gîza III. Die Mastabas der vorgeschrittenen V. Dynastie auf dem Westfriedhof. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1938. * Gîza IV. Die Mastaba des K3jm'nh (Kai-em-anch). Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1940. * Gîza V. Die Mastaba des Snb (Seneb) und die umliegenden Gräber. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1941. * Gîza VI. Die Mastaba des Nfr (Nefer), Kdf.jj (Kedfi), K3hjf (Kahjef) und die westlich anschliessenden Grabanlagen. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1943. * Gîza VII. Der Ostabschnitt des Westfriedhofs. Erster Teil. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1944. * Gîza VIII. Der Ostabschnitt des Westfriedhofs. Zweiter Teil. Vienna: Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1947. * Gîza IX. Das Mittelfeld des Westfriedhofs. Vienna: Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1950. * Gîza X. Der Friedhof südlich der Cheopspyramide. Westteil. Vienna: Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1951. * Gîza XI. Der Friedhof südlich der Cheopspyramide. Ostteil. Vienna: Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1953. * Gîza XII. Schlußband mit Zusammenfassungen und Gesamt-Verzeichnissen von Band I–XII. Vienna: Rudolf M. Rohrer, 1955. * “Mutter und Sohn auf einem Relief des frühen Alten Reiches.” Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahrgang 1953, Nr. 14, pp. 171–175. * The Offering Room of Prince Kaninisut. Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1931. * Zu einigen Reden und Rufen auf Grabbildern des Alten Reiches. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 221. Band, 5. Abhandlung. Vienna and Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1943.

References and notes

Clemens Gütl (Hrsg.): Hermann Junker. Eine Spurensuche im Schatten der österreichischen Ägyptologie und Afrikanistik. Cuvillier, Göttingen 2017, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Junker, Hermann 1877 births 1962 deaths 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests 20th-century archaeologists People from Bendorf People from the Rhine Province Nazi Party members German Egyptologists German male non-fiction writers Academics of the University of Vienna Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Archaeologists from Rhineland-Palatinate