Josef Ladislav Píč (19 January 1847 in
Mšeno
Mšeno (; ) is a town in Mělník District the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban ...
near
Mělník
Mělník (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monument zon ...
– 19 December 1911 in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
) was a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and
paleontologist
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
, one of founders of modern Czech archaeology.
Píč studied history and Slavic languages at the
Charles University in Prague
Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...
(then called ''Karl-Ferdinand University''). In 1883, he became
docent
The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...
of history at the university. Since 1893, he was named custodian and later director of archeologic collection at the
National Museum
A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...
(then named ''České museum'') in Prague. Píč created and maintained collection prehistoric artefacts. His major literary work was ''Starožitnosti země české'' (1899–1909), in three parts, about ancient history of Czech lands.
Exhaustion, conflicts with colleagues about his work and involvement in fights over validity of ''
Rukopis královédvorský a zelenohorský'' drove him to suicide.
Archaeologists from Austria-Hungary
Czech archaeologists
Czech paleontologists
1847 births
1911 suicides
Suicides in Austria-Hungary
Charles University alumni
1911 deaths
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