Jean Baptiste Holzmayer or Johann Baptist Holzmayer ( – ) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

teacher, archaeologist and folklorist who worked on

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the isla ...

. He carried out excavations on locations of the ancient forts and stone graves, and gathered material about local religious customs and folklore. Holzmayer was also one of the founders of the local research society, and led the volunteer firefighter society.

Early life

As son of the craftsman Joseph Holzmayer, Johann Baptist Joseph was born on 12 July 1839 in

Mayence Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. From 1858 to 1862 he studied

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and ancient studies in

Giessen University University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

.Personalbestand der Großherzoglich-Hessischen Ludewigs-Universität Giessen, Sommer-Semester 1862
p. 24.

Life on Saaremaa

In 1864, Holzmayer started working in the Kuressaare Gymnasium as teacher of old languages and German literature. In 1865 he was one of the founding members of the Research Society of Saaremaa (''Verein zur Kunde Ösels'') in

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

. At society a museum was also soon founded. Lang & Laneman (2006), p. 227 Holzmayer carried out limited excavations at the locations of ancient forts of

Kaarma Kaarma (german: Karmel) is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) The Estonian communist politician Viktor Kingissepp was born here in 1888. Before the administrative reform in 20 ...

Muhu Muhu (also called Muhumaa in Estonian), is an island in the West Estonian archipelago of the Baltic Sea. With an area of it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Together with neighbouring smaller is ...

, and

Pöide Pöide (german: Peude) is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, on the eastern part of Saaremaa Island, Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the n ...

. He also composed the descriptions of all the historical

hill forts A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...

on Saaremaa. During period of 1868–1874 Holzmayer excavated the stone graves of Piila, Kantsi, Päälda, Paju, Loona, Mäla, Kurevere and Viira. Lang & Laneman (2006), p. 130 Finds from the excavations formed basis of Research Society museum's collections. By the time of Holzmayer's death, the museum's collection included 1163 archeological objects, and 1877 coins, mostly from the ancient hoards. He also encouraged

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to oth ...

like Mihkel Kallas, Rudolf Kallas and Carl Wilhelm Freundlich to participate in collecting. Kaevats et al. (2000) In addition to his archeological activities, Holzmayer was active in gathering material about the ancient religious customs and folklore. Starting from 1867 he collected data with written questionnaires, with a goal of eventually publishing his finds. In this he was strong example for the Estonian folklorist and linguist

Jakob Hurt Jakob Hurt ( in Himmaste – in St Petersburg) was a notable Estonian folklorist, theologian, and linguist. With respect to the last, he is perhaps best known for his dissertation on "pure" -ne stem nouns ("Die estnischen Nomina auf -ne purum ...

. Hurt also later helped to publish Holzmayer's Osiliana, which summarized findings of the Holzmayer's research. The first part included materials about ancient religion, the second part was about people's customs, and the third part included results of studies of the burial places. Holzmayer became the leader of the Kuressaare

Volunteer Firefighter A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond t ...

Society. Due to his strict leadership, most of the Baltic-Germans left the society, leaving only common people as members. Holzmayer died on 28 October 1890 in Kuressaare, and was buried in Kudjape Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzmayer, Jean Baptiste 1839 births 1890 deaths Baltic-German people Writers from Mainz People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse Estonian archaeologists Estophiles University of Giessen alumni Estonian numismatists