Klaus Schmidt (11 December 1953 – 20 July 2014) was a German archaeologist and prehistorian who led the excavations at

Göbekli Tepe Göbekli Tepe (, "Potbelly Hill"; known as ''Girê Mirazan'' or ''Xirabreşkê'' in Kurdish languages, Kurdish) is a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between 9500 ...

from 1996 to 2014.

Education and career

Klaus Schmidt studied pre- and

protohistory Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

, as well as

classical archaeology Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about i ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

at the universities of

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. He completed his doctorate in 1983 at the

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

under the direction of

Harald Hauptmann Harald Hauptmann (19 April 1936 – 2 August 2018) was a German archaeologist known for his excavation work in east and southeast Turkey at sites such as Norşuntepe. He also studied of pre-Islamic Pakistan. He was a professor at the Universit ...

. He received a travel stipend from 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 ...

from 1984 to 1986. From 1986 to 1995, he received a research

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

from the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

and was employed at the Institute of pre- and proto-history of the Heidelberg University, working on various projects with the German Archaeological Institute and the Heidelberg University. In 1995, he became the leader of the excavations at Gürcütepe and

in Southeast

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1999 from the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

and in 2000 became

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

in Pre- and Proto-history at the Institute for Pre- and Proto-history of the University of Erlangen. In 2007, he became adjunct professor at the University of Erlangen. Starting 2001, he became the referent in

prehistoric archaeology Prehistoric archaeology is a subfield of archaeology, which deals specifically with artefacts, civilisations and other materials from societies that existed before any form of writing system or historical record. Often the field focuses on ages s ...

of the Oriental division of the

, and from 2007 was corresponding member of the Institute. In 1995, Schmidt purchased a house in nearby

Urfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features e ...

, which became his base of operations. His team of archaeologists typically excavated the site of Göbekli Tepe during two months in the spring and two months in the fall. In a 2011 interview, Schmidt estimated that roughly five percent of the site had been excavated.

Personal life

Klaus Schmidt was married to Turkish archaeologist Çiğdem Köksal-Schmidt. He died of a heart attack while swimming in Germany on 20 July 2014.

Works

* K. Schmidt, 2000b = ''Göbekli Tepe, Southeastern Turkey. A preliminary Report on the 1995–1999 Excavations.'' In: ''Paléorient'' CNRS Ed., Paris 2000: 26.1, 45–54, : http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/paleo_0153-9345_2000_num_26_1_4697 * K. Schmidt: "Zuerst kam der Tempel, dann die Stadt". Vorläufiger Bericht zu den Grabungen am Göbekli Tepe und am Gürcütepe 1995–1999. Istanbuler Mitteilungen 50 (2000): 5–41. * K. Schmidt: ''Frühneolithische Tempel. Ein Forschungsbericht zum präkeramischen Neolithikum Obermesopotamiens.'' In: Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 130, Berlin 1998, 17–49, * K. Schmidt, 2000a = Göbekli Tepe and the rock art of the Near East, ''TÜBA-AR'' 3 (2000): 1–14. * J. Peters & K. Schmidt: "Animals in the symbolic world of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey: a preliminary assessment." Anthropozoologica 39.1 (2004), 179–218: https://web.archive.org/web/20110612061638/http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/front/medias/publication/10613_Peters.pdf. * K. Schmidt: ''Sie bauten die ersten Tempel. Das rätselhafte Heiligtum der Steinzeitjäger''. Verlag C.H. Beck, München 2006, . * K. Schmidt, "Göbekli Tepe. Eine Beschreibung der wichtigsten Befunde erstellt nach den Arbeiten der Grabungsteams der Jahre 1995–2007", in K. Schmidt (ed.), ''Erste Tempel—Frühe Siedlungen. 12000 Jahre Kunst und Kultur, Ausgrabungen und Forschungen zwischen Donau und Euphrat'', (Oldenburg 2009): 187–233. * K. Schmidt, "Göbekli Tepe—the Stone Age Sanctuaries: New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs," Documenta Praehistorica XXXVII (2010), 239–256: https://web.archive.org/web/20120131114925/http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/authors37/37_21.pdf

References

External links

*
Homepage at the DAI

Excavation projects
with the

Interview with Klaus Schmidt on findings at Göbekli Tepe
in the Eurasian Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Klaus Archaeologists from Bavaria Heidelberg University alumni People from Ansbach (district) University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni 2014 deaths 20th-century archaeologists 21st-century archaeologists 1953 births Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg German Archaeological Institute German archaeologists Prehistorians