19 Facts About Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was an Austrian anthropologist and archaeologist.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff attended classes at the Faculte des Lettres of the Sorbonne and in the Ecole du Louvre from late 1937 to 1938.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff spent the rest of his life in research in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, ethnoecology, ethnohistory, ethnoastronomy, material culture, art, and vernacular architecture, among others.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff developed a keen interest for conducting fieldwork which would take him and his studies throughout the country, the Caribbean area, La Guajira desert, the Choco rainforests, the Llanos Orientales, to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Amazon rainforests.

In 1943 Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff wrote his first article on the Muisca settlement of Soacha.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff wrote a two volume monography of the Kogi Indians in the 1940s which to this day is considered a classic reference.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff carried out a regional study of the area covering archeology, ethnohistory and anthropology, making it one of the first such regional studies made in Colombia.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff published his analyses of the Puerto Hormiga site regarding early Formative cultures, and of the San Agustin site regarding chiefdoms.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff worked for 5 years at the Department and left together with his wife and several other professors due to changes in the Department.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was a member of the Colombian Academy of Sciences, and a Foreign Associate Member of the NAS National Academy of Sciences of the United States and he was a member of the Academia Real Espanola de Ciencias.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was awarded the Thomas H Huxley medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1975.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was the single author of 40 books and of over 400 articles, all dedicated to the archeology and anthropology of Colombia and specifically highlighting the relevance of indigenous peoples of the past and present.

In 1983, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was one of the founding members of the Third World Academy of Sciences, which was created and headed by dr.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff occupied, amongst other positions, those of researcher and lecturer of the Instituto Etnologico Nacional and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and he was Chair and professor of the Department of Anthropology of the Universidad de los Andes.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was visiting professor of the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff participated in academic congresses and seminars and wrote conference papers in universities and international or national academic events in South America, North America and Central America as well as in Europe, Japan.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff researched origins of early chiefdoms and explained the millenarian evolution of Amerindian cultures and their links to contemporary indigenous groups.

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff's excavations focused mainly on living spaces and garbage heaps, where the archaeologist avoided exploring or excavating monumental sculptures, monumental architecture and indigenous burial sites.

At a conference in 1987, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff spoke the following words:.