History of The Excavation
Fossil bones had already been found in the 16th century. In 1710 David Siegmund Büttner published a book called "Rudera diluvii testes i.e. Zeichen und Zeugen der Sündfluth" (Signs and witnesses of the flood). In 1818 Freiherr Friedrich von Schlotheim (1765-1832) found a human skull covered by lime concretions. It is lost today. In 1908 the mineralogist Ewald Wüst (1875-1934) from the University of Halle-Wittenberg published concerning the first flint artifacts. Adolf Spengler began working in Bilzingsleben in 1922.
In 1969 Dietrich Mania, later professor at the University of Jena, discovered numerous fossils and artefacts. In 1971 a research excavation was initiated that went on until 1992 under the auspices of the Museum for prehistory at Halle. Later on, the University of Jena took over. 1600 m2 have been excavated.
Read more about this topic: Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic Site)
Famous quotes containing the words history of and/or history:
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)