Jürgen Oldenstein (born 1947 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

) is a German provincial Roman archaeologist. Beginning in 1968 Oldenstein studied Provincial Roman Archeology, Pre- and Early History, and Ancient History at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, and 1970/71 Pre-and Early History and Provincial Roman Archeology at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

. In 1974 he received his doctorate in Frankfurt with a dissertation ''Zur Ausrüstung römischer Auxiliareinheiten '' ("On the equipment of Roman auxiliary units") and then worked from 1975 to 1979 as a research assistant at the ''Römisch-Germanischen Kommission'' of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

. In 1979 he became an academic assistant at the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory of the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. In 1990 Oldenstein was a visiting fellow at

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research an ...

. In 1992 he was received his Habilitation in Mainz ("Venia legendi" for Pre- and Early History with special consideration of Roman provincial archeology). In 1998 he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor, and in 2002 was appointed managing director of the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory. He was involved in university government, for example as a member of the Senate and various Senate committees. From 2002 to 2010 Oldenstein was Vice President of the University of Mainz for Study and Teaching. He retired in 2012. His research interests include the archeology of the Roman provinces, in particular Roman military history, the armament and equipment of the Roman army, late antique military buildings,

Mogontiacum Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Main ...

, and the late antique fort of Alzey. Oldenstein carried out numerous research projects, so from 1981 to 1986 and 2002 excavations in the

Vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

and the late Roman fort of

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verba ...

, 1993-1996 late Roman pottery from Alzey fortress, and 1995-2000 at the Belginum archaeological park in

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

within the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

focus on

Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, an ...

. He is a Corresponding Member of the

Selected writings

*"Zur Ausrüstung römischer Auxiliareinheiten. Studien zu Beschlägen und Zierat an der Ausrüstung der römischen Auxiliareinheiten des obergermanisch-raetischen Limesgebietes aus dem zweiten und dritten Jahrhundert n. Chr." In: ''Berichte der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission '' 57, 1976, pp. 49–284. (= Dissertation) *''Fundindex zu Der obergermanisch-raetische Limes des Römerreiches''. Zabern, Mainz 1982, . *

Literature

*Jinc, Patrick et.al. (Ed.): "Utere felix vivas". Festschrift for Jürgen Oldenstein. Habelt, Bonn 2012. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenstein, Jürgen 1947 births Living people Archaeologists from North Rhine-Westphalia People from Düsseldorf German Archaeological Institute