Waldemar Belck (25 February 1862, in Danzig – 6 September 1932, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

and amateur archaeologist. In 1884 he took part in an expedition to

German South-West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

, in which he conducted scientific studies of the region's natural resources. On the mission he also collected

botanical 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 wo ...

specimens, and as a result of these efforts, he is commemorated in the plant species names of ''Acrotome belckii'' ( Gürke) and ''Crotalaria belckii'' ( Schinz).S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science
(biography) In 1888 he obtained his doctorate from the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

with a dissertation on the passivity of iron.Frankfurts Schliemann; der self-made Archäologe Belck
(biography) From 1888 he was employed as a chemist at

Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Ge ...

, and subsequently was stationed at a copper works facility at Kedabeg in the

Caucasus region The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

of Russia. While based in this part of the world, he took the opportunity to conduct archaeological research. In

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

he investigated its ancient ruins and made copies of numerous cuneiform inscriptions.Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon
at Zeno.org In the autumn of 1891, despite express prohibition from the Russian authorities, he unearthed 45 tombs and burial mounds, secretly shipping their contents to pathologist

Rudolf Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1892 he returned to Germany, where he collaborated with Carl Lehmann-Haupt, a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. In 1898, with support from the ''Rudolf Virchow Stiftung'', Belck and Lehmann-Haupt embarked on an 18-month journey that took them to the Caucasus, northern

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and

Turkish Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that are part of the historical homeland of the Armenians. Weste ...

. On the expedition they discovered new inscriptions associated with

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n kings, and performed excavation work that included an attempted dig of Toprakkale, located near

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

. In 1902 Belck founded the ''Deutschen Gesellschaft für die wissenschaftliche Erforschung Anatoliens'' (German Society for the Scientific Exploration of

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

Published works

* ''Ueber neuerlich aufgefundene Keilinschriften in russisch und türkisch Armenion'', in: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 24 Bd (1892) pp. 122–152, (with Carl Lehmann-Haupt) – On newly discovered cuneiform inscriptions in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

. * ''Archäologische forschungen in Armenien'', 1893 – Archaeological investigations in Armenia. * ''Reisebriefe von der Armenischen Expedition'', 1899-1900 – Travel letters from the Armenian expedition. * ''Beiträge zur alten Geographie und Geschichte Vorderasiens'', 1901 – Contributions to the geography and history of southwestern Asia. * ''Die Kelischin-stele und ihre chaldisch-assyrischen keilinschriften'', 1904 – The

Kelashin Stele The Kelashin Stele ( ku, کێلەشین) (also Kelishin or Keli-Shin; from Kurdish Language: Blue Stone) found in Kelashin, Iraq, bears an important Urartian-Assyrian bilingual text dating to c. 800 BC, first described by Friedrich Eduard ...

and its Chaldean-Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions. * "The discovery of the art of iron manufacture" in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution. 1911. 24 Bd, p. 507-521.WorldCat Search
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belck, Waldemar 1862 births 1932 deaths Scientists from Gdańsk Archaeologists from Frankfurt University of Halle alumni