Jürgen Oldenstein (born 1947 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

) is a German provincial Roman

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, ...

. Beginning in 1968 Oldenstein studied Provincial Roman Archeology, Pre- and Early History, and Ancient History at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

, and 1970/71 Pre-and Early History and Provincial Roman Archeology at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. In 1974 he received his doctorate in Frankfurt with a dissertation ''Zur Ausrüstung römischer Auxiliareinheiten '' ("On the equipment of Roman auxiliary units") and then worked from 1975 to 1979 as a research assistant at the ''Römisch-Germanischen Kommission'' of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Status, tasks and ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. In 1979 he became an academic assistant at the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory of the

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. In 1990 Oldenstein was a visiting fellow at

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Wolfson is an all-graduate college, it prides itself on being one of the most international colleges at Oxford, with part ...

. In 1992 he was received his Habilitation in Mainz ("Venia legendi" for Pre- and Early History with special consideration of Roman provincial archeology). In 1998 he was appointed as an adjunct professor, and in 2002 was appointed managing director of the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory. He was involved in university government, for example as a member of the Senate and various Senate committees. From 2002 to 2010 Oldenstein was Vice President of the University of Mainz for Study and Teaching. He retired in 2012. His research interests include the archeology of the Roman provinces, in particular Roman military history, the armament and equipment of the Roman army, late antique military buildings,

Mogontiacum ''Mogontiacum'' (also ''Moguntiacum'') is the Latin name of today's city of Mainz, which it bore during its almost 500 years as part of the Roman Empire. ''Mogontiacum'' had its origins in the legionary camp built by Drusus in 13/12 BCE, which w ...

, and the late antique fort of Alzey. Oldenstein carried out numerous research projects, so from 1981 to 1986 and 2002 excavations in the

Vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

and the late Roman fort of

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhei ...

, 1993-1996 late Roman pottery from Alzey fortress, and 1995–2000 at the Belginum archaeological park in

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

within the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...

focus on

Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

. He is a Corresponding Member of the

Selected writings

*"Zur Ausrüstung römischer Auxiliareinheiten. Studien zu Beschlägen und Zierat an der Ausrüstung der römischen Auxiliareinheiten des obergermanisch-raetischen Limesgebietes aus dem zweiten und dritten Jahrhundert n. Chr." In: ''Berichte der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission '' 57, 1976, pp. 49–284. (= Dissertation) *''Fundindex zu Der obergermanisch-raetische Limes des Römerreiches''. Zabern, Mainz 1982, . *

Literature

*Jinc, Patrick et al. (Ed.): "Utere felix vivas". Festschrift for Jürgen Oldenstein. Habelt, Bonn 2012. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenstein, Jürgen 1947 births Living people Archaeologists from North Rhine-Westphalia People from Düsseldorf German Archaeological Institute