Hans Heinrich (Enrique) Brüning (Aug. 20, 1848, Hoffeld - July 2, 1928,

Bordesholm Bordesholm is a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in the district Rendsburg-Eckernförde. ''Bordesholm'' is also the name of a former historical district of the Kingdom of Prussia and Weimar Republic for which it was the district capital ...

) was a German-born Peruvian

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

and collector of

antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

Life and career

Brüning was educated as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

. At the age of 27, he decided to emigrate to Peru, where he immediately found employment as a mechanic on a

sugar plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacc ...

in Pátapo. His interest in archaeology apparently began in 1883 when he met

Adolph Bandelier Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier (August 6, 1840March 18, 1914) was a Swiss and American archaeologist who particularly explored the indigenous cultures of the American Southwest, Mexico, and South America. He immigrated to the United States wi ...

, a specialist in

pre-Hispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European c ...

buildings. Following that meeting, he spent many years travelling in Peru taking photographs of ancient buildings and the local inhabitants. He took more than 2,000 photos on

glass negative Photographic plates preceded film as the primary medium for capturing images in photography. These plates, made of metal or glass and coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, were integral to early photographic processes such as heliography, dagu ...

s, which are still preserved. After that, he began collecting archaeological pieces such as ceramics, metals, precious stones and carvings in wood. It was at this time that he decided to make a brief, formal study of

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

and archaeology back in Germany, returning to Peru in 1898.

Ethnology

In 1902, Brüning joined a risky expedition to find the shortest route between the Marañon basin and the Pacific coast. Together with the Polish engineer Eduardo de Habich and the landowner Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro, they found a passage through the Pongo de Manseriche. Brüning made the most of the opportunity to write an

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

description of the indigenous

Aguarunas The Aguaruna (or , their endonym) are an indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon-Andes divide. They live primarily on the Marañón River in northern Peru near the border with Ecuador and several of the Marañón's tributaries, the rivers Santia ...

. The Moches resisted his efforts to study them, but Brüning was patient and eventually gained their confidence by participating in their local rituals. This success led him to remain in the vicinity and study the

Mochica language Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th ...

. He completed a dictionary of the language that was published in 1917. Some wax cylinders were obtained, which he used to record Mochican music. Today the originals are kept in the Hamburgisches Museum Für Völkerkunde. They are among the first recordings of popular music made in Peru.

Antiquities

By 1916, the ceramic pieces he had collected would no longer fit in his home. He decided to sell part of his collection to the Peruvian government for 60,000 Soles. They were put on display in 1924 and he was named the museum's first director (with a salary of four Soles per month), but his tenure was short because he was in poor health, which prompted him to return to Germany for good in 1925. His full collection is now displayed at the Museo Arqueologico Nacional Brüning in Lambayeque, which opened in 1966. He died of a heart attack on July 2, 1928, in the city of

, within a few days of his eightieth birthday.

Works

* ''Mochica Wörterbuch = Diccionario Mochica : Mochica-Castellano, Castellano-Mochica'', edited with an introduction by José Antonio Salas García, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Escuela Profesional de Turismo y Hotelería (2004) * ''Estudios monográficos del Departamento de Lambayeque'', compiled by James M. Vreeland, Jr., with an introduction by Richard P. Schaedel, Sociedad de Investigación de la Ciencia, Cultura y Arte Norteño (c1989) * ''Fotodokumente aus Nordperu von Hans Heinrich Brüning'', selected and edited by Corinna Raddatz, Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde (1990)

References

External links

Brüning Museum website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruning, Hans Heinrich Archaeologists from Rhineland-Palatinate Emigrants from the German Empire Immigrants to Peru German ethnologists Peruvian ethnologists 1848 births 1928 deaths Peruvian archaeologists People from Ahrweiler (district)