Luigi Pigorini (10 January 1842 – 1 April 1925) was an Italian palaeoethnologist,

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 ...

and

ethnographer 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 ...

Biography

Pigorini was born at

Fontanellato Fontanellato (Parmigiano: ) is a small town in the province of Parma, in northern Italy. It lies on the plains of the River Po near the A1 autostrada, about west of Parma towards Piacenza. The town was built up in the 15th century around the ...

, near

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. At the age of sixteen years, in 1858, he became an

alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the Museo d'Antichità di Parma (Museum of Antiquities of Parma, no
Parma Archaeological Museum
. He later encountered

Pellegrino Strobel Pellegrino Strobel (22 August 18218 June 1895) was an Italian ornithologist, zoologist, naturalist and Italian politician. He is considered among the leaders of Italian malacology and, with Gaetano Chierici and Luigi Pigorini, is an important ...

, the professor of

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the

University of Parma The University of Parma ( it, Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is a public university in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is organised in nine departments. As of 2016 the University of Parma has about 26,000 students. History During the ...

and

Gaetano Chierici Gaetano Chierici (1838–1920) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre works. Biography He was born in Reggio Emilia, and attended the Reggio Emilia School of Fine Arts in 1850 and 1851. Chierici continued his studies at the academies of Modena a ...

, director of the Gabinetto di Antichità Patrie di Reggio Emilia or Cabinet of Antiquities of the native land of Reggio Emilia (now Musei Civici di Reggio Emili

and began archaeological research in the territory of Parmesan. In 1863, he began to travel in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, and also studied in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He ran a course in Parma where he resorted to various materials in order to explain the uses and the functions of

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

tools. A few years later after becoming a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Political and Administrative Sciences he became director of the Museum of Antiquity of Parma. In 1875, he founded with Chierici and Strobel a paleoethnological journal ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' and, in the same year, began working in the Archaeological Director General's office in Rome (Direzione Generale dei Musei e degli Scavi d'Antichità del Regno a Roma) where he proposed to the Minister of Public education, Bonghi, the foundation of the

Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography is a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy. Established in 1875 and opened in 1876 by Luigi Pigorini, from 2016 it is one of the four museums inside the Museum of Ci ...

in Rome, that was inaugurated in 1876 and which bears his name. For his outstanding contribution to Italian archaeology he was nominated a Senatore a vita in 1912 and was vice president of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

in 1919 remaining so until his death in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in 1925.

Achievements

Pigorini's work with Strobel on the lake-dwelling

Terramara Terramare, terramara, or terremare is a technology complex mainly of the central Po valley, in Emilia, Northern Italy, dating to the Middle and Late Bronze Age c. 1700–1150 BC. It takes its name from the "black earth" residue of settlemen ...

is a seminal work of prehistory informed by uniting

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

palynology Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and '' -logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...

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 ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and

archaeology 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 ...

to build a complete picture of these

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

communities.

Selected works

* with Strobel ''Le terremare e le palafitte del Parmense (subtitle) seconda relazione del prof. P. Strobel e di L. Pigorini'' Tipi di G. Bernadoni, Milano (1864) - also in parts in ''Atti della Società italiana di Scienze Naturali (Milan)''. *with Lubbock, John. Notes on the hut-urns and other objects discovered in an ancient cemetery in the commune of Marino (province of Rome) ead to the Society of Antiquaries 2 April 1868 ''Archaeologia'' 42: 103— (1868) *'Inchiesta sul Museo di

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. Hi ...

', ''Supplemento al Bollettino Ufficiale del Ministero dell'Istruzione Pubblica'' 26 (1899) (ed. L. Pigorini), 1107-1142 (1899) *'Pani di rame provenienti dall'Egeo e scoperti a Serra Ilixi in provincia di Cagliari', ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' 10: 91-107 (1904). *A complete list of Pignori's papers in ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' is here
contents

Sources

*Duhn, Friedrich von Rellini, U. Necrologio del prof. L. Pigorini Vorgeschichtliches Jahrbuch, 3:274. Berlin, 1927. *Brizzi, Bruno d.1976 ''The Pigorini Museum'' Rome, Quasar. *Italian Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Pigorini, Luigi 1842 births 1925 deaths People from the Province of Parma Italian archaeologists Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy