Jakob Heierli (11 August 1853 – 18 July 1912) was a Swiss teacher, prehistorian and archaeologist.

Biography

Jakob Heierli was born on 11 August 1853 in

Herisau Herisau is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated ...

to Christian Heierli, a weaver, and Katharina Barbara, née Tanner. From 1871 to 1873 he attended the teacher-training college in

Kreuzlingen Kreuzlingen () is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22 ...

and in 1873 he received his teachering certificate. From 1873 to 1875 he headed the local training school. From 1875 to 1879 he completed the secondary-school teacher-training at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

and in 1879 he passed the examination to become a secondary-school teacher. From 1882 until his death he worked as a secondary-school teacher in Hottingen (today a part of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

).Thomas Fuchs
''Jakob Heierli''
in ''Historical Encyclopedia of Switzerland'', 4 December 2007, Online. From 1880 onwards, Heierli devoted himself to researching and popularizing Swiss prehistory in addition to his work as a teacher. He attended lectures at the University of Zurich, at the Zurich Polytechnic (today

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

) and took part in several geological expeditions and archaeological excavations. Heierli was a member of the board of directors of the Antiquarian Society of Zürich until 1904. From 1888 to 1893 he was vice-president of the Ethnographic Society (later Geographic-Ethnographic Society) of Zürich. He was subsequently actuary of the society until his death.Otto Stoll: ''Dr Jakob Heierli. 1853-1912''. In: ''Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschafty'', Vol. 95, 1912, pp. 154–160. With catalog raisonné
online
. As a docent at the University of Zürich, Heierli presented lectures in prehistory from 1889 to 1912; he also lectured at the Zurich Polytechnic from 1900. In 1901, the University of Zürich awarded him an honorary doctorate “in recognition of his services to research into the prehistory of Switzerland.” In France he was awarded the title “Officier d’Académie,” an order of knighthood reserved for academics and cultural and educational figures. In 1901, Heierli published ''Urgeschichte der Schweiz'' 'The Prehistory of Switzerland'' the first general overview of the subject. In 1907, Heierli was a co-founder of the Swiss Society for Prehistory (today Archäologie Schweiz). He was its secretary until his death. Heierli died in

on 18 July 1912, a month short of his 59th birthday. He was survived by his wife of thirty years Julie Heierli-Weber, née Weber, whose field of study was the history of Swiss national costumes.

Archaeology

Jakob Heierli took part in numerous archaeological excavations in Switzerland. He made archaeological maps for the cantons of Zürich, Thurgau, Aargau, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen and Appenzell. At the time of his death, he left sufficient material for an archaeological map of the whole of Switzerland in manuscript. As Secretary General of the Swiss Society for Prehistory, Heierli compiled the ''Archäologische Landesdokumentation'' (''National Archaeological Survey''), which is now in the archives of Archäologie Schweiz. In this work, he created a dossier for each Swiss community, in which he filed reports of archaeological finds, letters, excavation notes, newspaper reports, etc., according to their respective archaeological epoch. In his lectures, Heierli always endeavored to attract new people to the subject of Swiss prehistory. He also tried to arouse interest in it in the widest circles through popular scientific lectures and publications. Heierli also attended various prehistoric excavations abroad and made numerous acquaintances with foreign researchers. He was a corresponding member of numerous foreign societies.

Biography

Archaeology

References

Further reading