Volker Bierbrauer (born 19 September 1940) is a German archaeologist and historian.

Biography

Volker Bierbrauer was born in

Kirn Kirn is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a middle centre serving an area on the Nahe and in the Hunsrück. Geography Location Kirn lies in a la ...

, Germany on 19 September 1940. He received his PhD in

prehistory 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 ...

and

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

in 1969. He gained 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 1977. In 1979, Bierbrauer was appointed to the faculty at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. From 1990 to 2006, he was Chair of Prehistory 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 ...

at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Bierbrauer is notable for his research on the archaeology of the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

and

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...

, and the question of continuity between the classical and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

period. Bierbrauer was a Member of the Steering Committee of the

Transformation of the Roman World Transformation of the Roman World was a 5-year scientific programme, during the years 1992 to 1997, founded via the European Science Foundation. The research project was to investigate the societal transformation taking place in Europe in the perio ...

project, which was sponsored by the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes the highest quality science ...

. In 2005 he became a full member of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

Selected works

* ''Die ostgotischen Grab- und Schatzfunde in Italien'', 1969 * ''Frühgeschichtliche Akkulturationsprozesse in den germanischen Staaten am Mittelmeer (Westgoten, Ostgoten, Langobarden) aus der Sicht des Archäologen'', 1980 * ''Langobarden, Bajuwaren und Romanen im mittleren Alpengebiet im 6. und 7. Jahrhundert'', 1993 * ''Archäologie und Geschichte der Goten vom 1.–7. Jahrhundert'', 1994 * ''Archäologie der Langobarden in Italien'', 2005 * ''Ethnos und Mobilität im 5. Jahrhundert aus archäologischer Sicht'', 2008

External links

Volker Bierbrauer
at the website of the

1940 births 21st-century German archaeologists Living people Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich People from Bad Kreuznach (district) Prehistorians Academic staff of the University of Bonn {{Germany-archaeologist-stub