Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Excavator · Scholar · Cataloguer

Hans-Günter Buchholz

1919–2011 · Germany

German archaeologist of the University of Giessen who directed the German Archaeological Institute's excavations at Tamassos from 1970 to 1980 and studied Ohnefalsch-Richter's Tamassos material.

Biography

From 1970 to 1980 Hans-Günter Buchholz of the University of Giessen dug at Tamassos in annual campaigns commissioned and supported by the German Archaeological Institute1. The aim was to prepare the unpublished manuscript "Tamassos und Idalion" by Max Ohnefalsch-Richter for publication, by re-excavating selected places and evaluating the finds of Ohnefalsch-Richter's digs of 1885, 1889 and 18941. Vassos Karageorghis's report for 1976 lists Buchholz as director of the mission11.

The typescript chapters of Ohnefalsch-Richter's book survive in the Berlin museum archives, and by 1988 Buchholz had long been studying them together with the scattered objects8. In 1989 he published an account of Ohnefalsch-Richter's excavations in Cyprus2, and in 2007 a study of the 1889 Tamassos dig4.

He also followed the finds of the 1885 excavation at Frangissa. Buchholz traced the pieces Falkland Warren took to Canada, first to the National Gallery at Ottawa and then to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and studied them there9. His 1991 article reproduced archive photographs of the finds, captioned "Excavations at Tamassus, Cyprus, by Colonel Warren R.A. in 1885", and discussed their original condition and whereabouts3. He promised a full study of the Toronto material, and Karageorghis wrote in 2002 that it had not appeared10.

With Karageorghis he wrote the handbook Altägäis und Altkypros (Tübingen, 1971), issued in English in 1973 as Prehistoric Greece and Cyprus5,6. With K. Untiedt he published Tamassos. Ein antikes Königreich auf Zypern in 19967.

His study collection of ceramics, sherds, terracottas, fibulae and stone tools is at the Biblisch-Archäologisches Institut in Wuppertal, with replicas of Cypriot pottery for experimental archaeology. Part of it came from the estate of Bruno Sauer, whose pieces were acquired in Egypt in 19091.

Volume I of the final Tamassos publication, on the necropoleis, appeared in 2010. Buchholz died in 2011, and the series is continued by Hartmut Matthäus and Matthias Recke1.

Life and work

  1. 1970–1980
    Directed annual campaigns at Tamassos (Politiko) for the German Archaeological Institute, with the declared aim of preparing Ohnefalsch-Richter's unpublished 'Tamassos und Idalion' manuscript for publication through targeted re-excavation and evaluation of the finds of Ohnefalsch-Richter's digs of 1885, 1889 and 1894.

    TamassosRecke 2012Karageorghis 1977

  2. 1971
    Co-wrote Altägäis und Altkypros with V. Karageorghis (Wasmuth, Tübingen); English translation Prehistoric Greece and Cyprus, an Archaeological Handbook (1973), whose numbered object entries are cited by later authors.

    Buchholz & Karageorghis 1971Buchholz & Karageorghis 1973Merrillees 2014

  3. 1973–1987
    Published a series of Tamassos studies in Archäologischer Anzeiger (1973, 1974, 1978, 1987) and, by 1988, had long been studying the Ohnefalsch-Richter typescript chapters on Tamassos in the Berlin museum archive and the dispersed objects, for a global publication.

    BerlinMasson & Hermary 1988

  4. 1987–1991
    Traced the Frangissa finds that Falkland Warren took to Canada (Ottawa National Art Gallery, transferred to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 1958) and published first notes (Archäologischer Anzeiger 1987) and then 'Tamassos-Phrangissa (1885)' (CCEC 16, 1991) with Carletti's 1885 archive photographs; he promised a full study of the Toronto material, which Karageorghis (2002) says had not appeared.

    TorontoMasson 1989Karageorghis 2002Buchholz 1991

  5. 1989
    Published 'Max Ohnefalsch-Richter als Archäologe auf Zypern' (CCEC 11-12, pp. 3-27/28), a chronological account of Ohnefalsch-Richter's excavations.

    Buchholz 1989

  6. 1996
    Co-authored Tamassos. Ein antikes Königreich auf Zypern (SIMA Pocket-book 136) with K. Untiedt.

    Karageorghis 2002

  7. 2010
    Volume I (Die Nekropolen I-III) of the definitive Tamassos publication appeared; further volumes completed after his death by H. Matthäus and M. Recke.

    Recke 2012

Connections

12 people
Bruno SauerVassos KarageorghisMax Ohnefalsch-RichterFalkland WarrenHartmut MatthäusKatja WalcherK. UntiedtMatthias ReckeNeda LeipenAlfred Bernhard-WalcherZwickerU. GehrigHans-Günter Buchholz
Sales & giftsScholarshipColleagues

Sales, gifts & bequests

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Study collection (Studiensammlung Hans-Günter Buchholz): ceramics, sherds, terracotta, fibulae, stone tools; part from the estate of Bruno Sauer (bought in Egypt in 1909); also replicas of Cypriot ceramics for experimental archaeology

    Biblisch-Archäologisches Institut, Kirchliche Hochschule / Bergische Universität WuppertalRecke 2012

On Ancient Cyprus

3 pages

Sources

  1. 1.Matthias Recke (2012). “Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen Disziplin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
  2. 2.H.-G. Buchholz (1989). “Max Ohnefalsch-Richter als Archäologe auf Zypern”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 3-27.
  3. 3.Hans-Günter Buchholz (1991). “Tamassos-Phrangissa (1885)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 16, 3-15.
  4. 4.H.-G. Buchholz (2007). “Bemerkungen zu M. Ohnefalsch-Richters Ausgrabungen 1889 in Tamassos”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 37, 231-244.
  5. 5.H.-G. Buchholz, V. Karageorghis (1971). Altägäis und Altkypros. Tübingen, Ernst Wasmuth.
  6. 6.H.-G. Buchholz, V. Karageorghis (1973). Prehistoric Greece and Cyprus: An Archaeological Handbook. London, Phaidon.
  7. 7.H.-G. Buchholz, K. Untiedt (1996). Tamassos. Ein antikes Königreich auf Zypern. Jonsered, Åström.
  8. 8.O. Masson, A. Hermary (1988). “Le voyage de Ludwig Ross à Chypre en 1845 et les antiquités chypriotes du Musée de Berlin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 9, 3-10. Online
  9. 9.O. Masson (1989). “Le colonel Falkland Warren à Chypre, 1878-1890”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 29-34. Online
  10. 10.V. Karageorghis (2002). “Nouvelles archéologiques. Cypriote Antiquities in Foreign Museums”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 32, 3-4.
  11. 11.V. Karageorghis (1977). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1976”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 101.
  12. 12.P. Åström (ed.), D. Sürenhagen (ed.) (2000). Periplus. Festschrift für Hans-Günter Buchholz zu seinem achtzigsten Geburtstag am 24. Dezember 1999.
  13. 13.Robert Stuart Merrillees (2014). “George Basil Palma, Chemist and Collector of Cypriote Antiquities in Famagusta, Cyprus, in the 20th Century A.D.”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 44. Online
  14. 14.H.-G. Buchholz; V. Karageorghis (1971). Altägäis und Altkypros.
  15. 15.H.-G. Buchholz; V. Karageorghis (1973). Prehistoric Greece and Cyprus: An Archaeological Handbook.