Hans Georg Wunderlich (19 January 1928 – 28 May 1974) was a German geologist.

Life and work

Wunderlich studied geology in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. In 1952 he was awarded his doctorate in Göttingen (''Contributions to the geology of the Northern Harz Boundary Fault in the Bad Harzburg area'') and from 1957 he taught in Göttingen. In 1963 he became a professor in Göttingen, in 1970 professor of geology and palaeontology in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. He dealt with

geotectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

and

orogenesis Orogeny () is a mountain-building process that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted to form one or more mountain ranges. This involv ...

, where he was a supporter of the theory of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

. From 1969 he was main coordinator for the Priority Program of the Geodynamics of the Mediterranean region of the German Research Foundation.

Work on the archaeology of Crete

During his geological studies in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

he became aware of the palace of

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

. He disagreed with the established thesis of Sir

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. The first excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos on the List of islands of Greece, Gree ...

that the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...

had been extremely peaceful, pointing instead to evidence of a pronounced cult of the dead similar to that of the ancient Egyptian culture of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

. In the book ''Wohin der Stier Europa trug'' (1972), he analysed the Minoan excavations from the perspective of geology and identified many contradictions in Evans' theories; for example, the devices called baths are completely unsuitable for bathing, since their sheathing is made of a water-soluble material and there is no drainage. He considered the light wells to be ventilation ducts. He also argued that it was unlikely that the "palaces" and "villas" were permanently inhabited, as there was no water supply there; he did not think that the wells that had been found were deep enough and therefore interpreted them as cisterns. Wunderlich therefore assumed that the population lived in the plains and the so-called villas and palaces were mortuary temples. Wunderlich's criticism provoked a long-standing scientific dispute, but today it is regarded as an outsider's opinion and is considered largely refuted.Branigan, Keith (1978)
Review of: The Secret of Crete by Hans Georg Wunderlich, Richard Winston
''The Geographical Journal'', Vol. 144, No. 3 (Nov., 1978), pp. 502-503.

Works (in chronological order)

*''Tektonik und Metamorphose der Bündener Schiefer in der Umgebung des Gotthardmassivs'' (1957, with W. Pleßmann) *''Aufbau und Altersverhältnis der Tektonik- und Metamorphose-Vorgängen in Bündenerschiefer Nordtessins und Graubündens'' (1958) *''Deckenbau, Faltung und Lineation in den Ligurischen Alpen und im angrenzenden Apennin'' (1958) *''Zur Tektonik und Metamorphose der Apuanischen Alpen'', Akademie der Wissenschaften Göttingen, Math.-Naturwiss. Klasse, 1960, S. 118–158 *''Wesen und Ursachen der Gebirgsbildung'', BI Hochschultaschenbücher (1966) *with Erich Bederke: ''Atlas zur Geologie'', Bibliographisches Institut (BI) Mannheim, (1968) *''Einführung in die Geologie'', BI Hochschultaschenbücher, 2 Bände (1968) *''Wohin der Stier Europa trug: Kretas Geheimnis und das Erwachen des Abendlandes'' (1972); translated into English by Richard Winston as ''The Secret of Crete'' (1974) *''Bau der Erde. Geologie der Kontinente und Meere'', BI Hochschultaschenbücher, 2 Bände (1973, 1975) *''Die Steinzeit ist noch nicht zu Ende. Eine Psycho-Archäologie des Menschen'' (1974) *''Das neue Bild der Erde. Faszinierende Entdeckungen der modernen Geologie'' (1975)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wunderlich, Hans Georg 1928 births 1974 deaths 20th-century German geologists