Hans-Georg Stephan (born 30 May 1950) is a German university professor specializing in European

medieval archaeology ''Medieval Archaeology'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering the archaeology of the medieval period, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in 1957 by the Society for Medieval Archaeology and is publish ...

and

post-medieval archaeology Post-medieval archaeology is a term used in Europe to describe the study of the material past over the last 500 years. The field is also referred to as historical archaeology, a term originating in North America, and common in countries impacted ...

Biography

Stephan was born in

Beverungen Beverungen () is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Beverungen lies in the Weser Uplands on the side of the Weser opposite Solling roughly south of Höxter. In parts of the eastern municipal ar ...

in the

German state The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. He studied

archaeology 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, ...

, European ethnology (''Volkskunde''), and historical ancillary sciences at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

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 ...

and

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

.Faculty biography
Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg. Retrieved January 15, 2011 After that, he worked at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

and in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

as city archaeologist until 1977. From then until 2004, he worked at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

's Department of Prehistory and Early History (i.e., archaeology). He completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1992. In 2004, he was appointed professor of medieval and post-medieval archaeology at the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology at

Martin Luther University Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in Halle-

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

, Germany. Stephan is married and has two children.

Research specialization

Stephan's areas of specialization include interdisciplinary archaeological research in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and second millennia AD, medieval

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

and

landscape archaeology Landscape archaeology, previously known as total archaeology is a sub-discipline of archaeology and archaeological theory. It studies the ways in which people in the past constructed and used the environment around them. It is also known as archae ...

, urban

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

and

architectural history The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...

(especially ceramics, glass, and oven tiles),

economic history Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...

(especially pottery,

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and glass production), and

archaeometry Archaeological science consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials and sites. It is related to methodologies of archaeology. Martinón-Torres and Killick distinguish ‘scientific archaeology ...

. He and his research team discovered an

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, ...

, near Nienover castle in 1992."Fundsache No. 498: Untergegangene Stadt Nienover"
N-TV, official website (March 31, 2009) Retrieved January 16, 2011 The land was untouched since medieval times, the town never rebuilt, presenting an excellent site for archaeological exploration."Das Projekt"
Landkreis Northeim, official website. (December 17, 2009) Retrieved January 16, 2011 Excavation work began in 1996."Ausgrabung der mittelalterlichen Stadt Nienover"
Heimatpflege im Uslarer Land - Solling. Retrieved January 16, 2011 Stephan is the lead archaeologist into long-term research into the settlement, which was founded ca. 1200. The project is the most extensive research project of an abandoned village in Europe. Excavation work took place with groups of other archaeologists, assistants and students, many from other countries, totaling hundreds of researchers over the years."Forscher graben Nienover aus - und schütten alles wieder zu"
''Hamburger Abendblatt'' (August 9, 2005) Retrieved January 16, 2011 Excavation work in the village of Schmeeson took place between 2004 and 2007.
Official website. Retrieved January 16, 2011 Initially, Stephan and his team thought they had found a small, squarish building, but in 2004, the site was covered by brush,
Schmeeson Village Project, 2004-2007. Retrieved January 16, 2011 later cleared away by the local historical society, which supports the project. This enabled Stephan to see that he had been standing on much more. Stephan is working on a book about his research in the

Solling The Solling () is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. Inside Lower Saxony it is the second largest range of hill ...

Excavation halted

The

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

purchased the castle at Nienover in 2005, later selling it to Mireille van Meer, a Dutch horse breeder."Nienover: Historisches"
Schloß Nienover, official website. Retrieved January 16, 2011 Stephan, who spent twelve years researching and excavating the site, criticized

Hartmut Möllring Hartmut Möllring (born 31 December 1951, Groß Ilsede) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). From 1990 to 2013 he was a member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. From 2003 to 2013, he was the Minister of Finan ...

( CDU), state

finance minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

, for selling the castle at a "

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventor ...

price" without bothering to secure the rights to continue the scientific work to its conclusion. This caused the demise of what Stephan called "a unique opportunity in Germany" to excavate an untouched medieval site. The new owner prohibited excavation of a well deep, despite private funding, including that of Lower Saxony's former Minister of Science and Culture,

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

. A large part of the site's approximately 150 houses cannot be further researched.

Selected publications

* ''Archäologische Beiträge zur Frühgeschichte der Stadt Höxter''. Münstersche Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 7, 1973. * ''Archäologische Studien zur Wüstungsforschung im südlichen Weserbergland. '' Münstersche Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte 10-11, 1978-79. * ''Coppengrave - Studien zur Töpferei des 13. -19. Jahrhundert in Nordwestdeutschland.'' Materialhefte zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Niedersachsens 17, 1981. * "The Development and Production of Medieval Stoneware in Germany. In: P. Davey, R. Hodges (eds.), ''Ceramics and Trade: The Production and Distribution of Later Medieval Pottery in North-West Europe'', 1983, 95-120. * ''Großalmerode. Ein entrum der Herstellung von technischer Keramik, Steinzeug und Irdenware in Hessen. Die Geschichte der keramischen Gewerbe in Großalmerode und die Entwicklung ihrer Produktion vom 12 bis zum 19. Jahrhundert.'' Teil I, 1986. * ''Die bemalte Irdenware der Renaissance in Mitteleuropa. Ausstrahlungen und Verbindungen der Produktionszentren im gesamteuropäischen Rahmen. '' Forschungshefte des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums München 12, 1987. * "Urban Archaeological Research in Germany: A Regional Review of Medieval Topographic Development," in: D. Denecke, G. Shaw (eds.), ''Urban Historical Geography. Recent Progress in Britain and Germany''. - Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography 10, 1988 (c), 53-68, 347-354. * ''Kacheln aus dem Werraland. Die Entwicklung der Ofenkacheln vom 13. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert im unteren Werraraum. '' Schriften des Werratalvereins Witzenhausen 23, 1991. * ''Keramik der Renaissance im Oberweserraum und an der unteren Werra. Beiträge der Archäologie zur Erforschung der Sachkultur der frühen Neuzeit.'' Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters, Beiheft 7, 1992. * ''Großalmerode. Ein europäisches Zentrum der Herstellung von technischer Keramik. Die Geschichte der keramischen Gewerbe in Großalmerode und Epterode und die Entwicklung ihrer Produktion vom 12. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert.'' Teil II: Technische und Baukeramik, Tonpfeifen, Knicker, Steingut. Porzellan, Aspekte von Handel, früher chemischer Industrie, Bergbau und Gewerbegeschichte, 1995. * C. Zientek, H. Urban, H. J. Bollingberg, A. König, and H.-G. Stephan, "Analytical Results of Copper Alloys from Medieval Saxonian Artifacts," In S. Demirci, A. M. Özer, and G. D. Summers (eds.), ''The Proceedings of the 29th International Symposium on rchaeometry,'' Ankara 1996, 53-57. * ''Studien zur Siedlungsentwicklung und -struktur von Stadt und Kloster Corvey (800-1670). Eine Synopse auf der Grundlage der archäologischen Quellen.'' Göttinger Schriften zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte 26, Bd. 1-3, 2000. * M. Koch, J. Lepper, U. Siewers, and H.-G. Stephan "Iron Ore Occurrences in the Mesozoic Uplands of Southern Lower Saxony and Northern Hesse (Germany and Their Geochemical Characterization for an Archaeometallurgical Project," ''Archaeometallurgy in Europe. International Conference.'' 14.25.26 September 2003 Milan, Italy Proceedings" vol. 2, 507-513.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephan, Hans-Georg 1950 births Living people People from Höxter (district) Archaeologists from North Rhine-Westphalia University of Münster alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the University of Kiel Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg