Migration Period
between Odra and Vistula

You are here: Home page / Thesaurus / Persons / Werner Joachim

Werner Joachim

Joachim Werner, German archaeologist and prehistorian (fig. 1.), leading specialist in the →Migration Period . Born 23 December 1909 in Berlin, died 9 January 1994 in Munich. After graduating from the Berlin Collège Français, studied prehistoric and classic archaeology (Berlin, Vienna, Marburg). After obtaining his PhD (1932) as a scholar of Deutsches Archäologisches Institut travelled in the Middle East, Balkans, Hungary and Austria (1933-35). Took part in excavation work in Iraq, Egypt and Bulgaria (Sadovets). In 1935-1942 with the Römisch-Germanische Kommission in Frankfurt am Main, after getting his habilitation (1938), professor of the university in Frankfurt. In 1942-45, professor in the German-occupied Strasbourg (Reichsuniversität Straßburg). At the end of the war escaped to Switzerland to avoid being drafted into the army. In 1946 was professor and Director of Institut für Vor und Frühgeschichte of the university in Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München). After his retirement in 1974 he continued his research activities at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften), where he led (until his death) the archaeology commission for the study of Late Roman Raetia (Kommission zur archäologischen Erforschung des spätrömischen Raetien) he had helped found in 1957.

J. W.  is author of over 300 publications, including 17 books. His interest lay in the La Tène, Roman, Migration periods and the earliest phases of the early medieval period; his contributions deal with the archaeology of Germany, France, as well as Scandinavia, the Balkans, east Europe, as well as Asia, more notably, South Korea.

J. W.’s contribution to the Migration Period studies was to develop the foundations for its chronology in Bavaria and on the territory of today’s France, with special focus on the tomb of Childeric (+ 481/2) at Tournai and the economy on the territory of the Merovingian Empire. In case of central Europe J. W. studied →Germanic Tribes , nomads, as well as →Slavs . He argued that the homeland of the Slavs was in the east and that they began their migration to the south-west during the 5th century from the Upper Dniester area. He devoted much attention also to east Europe, especially to the so-called Proto-Bulgars. Also relevant is the contribution made by J. W. to the study of the influx of Late Roman and Early Byzantine coinage to Scandinavia. His truly impressive bibliography includes studies on the archaeology of Korea.

J. W. was also an outstanding university educator, promotor of 34 PhD dissertations, on the committee of 7 habilitations, organizer and publisher, since 1951, the editor of the series Münchener Beiträge zur Vor-und Frühgeschichte (43 tomes).

J. W. made many visits to Poland, especially to Krakow, had close ties with →Godłowski Kazimierz whom he hosted in Munich as an Alexander von Humboldt scholar. In 1990 J. W. was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa by the Jagiellonian University, in 1992 he was invited to act as foreign corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Learning.

MW

Major publications by Joachim Werner:

  1. Münzdatierte Austrasische Grabfunde, Berlin-Leipzig 1935.
  2. Der Grabfund von Malaja Pereščipina und Kuvrat, Kagan der Bulgaren, München 1984.
  3. Zu den auf Öland und Gotland gefundenen byzantinischen Goldmünzen, Fornvännen, t. 44 [1949], p. 257-286.
  4. Slawische Bügelfibeln des 7. Jahrhunderts, [in:] Reinecke-Festschrift. Zum 75. Geburtstag von P. Reinecke am 25. September 1947, Mainz 1950, p. 150-172.
  5. Zur Entstehung der Reihengräberzivilisation, ein Beitrag zur Methode der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie, Archaeologica Geographica, t. 1 [1950], p. 23-32.
  6. Waage und Geld in der Merowingerzeit, München 1954.
  7. Beiträge zur Archäologie des Attila-Reiches, München 1956.
  8. Die Langobarden in Pannonien: Beiträge zur Kenntnis der langobardischen Bodenfunde von 568, München 1962, t. I-II.
  9. Zur Herkunft und Ausbreitung der Anten und Sklaven, [in:] Actes du VIIIe Congrès International des Sciences Prèhistoriques et Protohistoriques, Belgrade 1971, p. 243-252.
  10. Der goldene Armring des Frankenkönigs Childerich und die germanischen Handgelenkringe der jüngeren Kaiserzeit, Frühmittelalterliche Studien, t. XIV [1980], p. 1-41.
  11. Der Schatzfund von Vrap in Albanien. Beiträge zur Archäologie der Awarenzeit im mittleren Donauraum, Wien 1986.
  12. Adelsgräber von Niederstotzingen bei Ulm und von Bokchondong in Südkorea: Jenseitsvorstellungen vor Rezeption von Christentum u. Buddhismus im Lichte ergleichender Archäologie, München 1988.

Literature: Studien zur vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie. Festschrift für Joachim Werner zum 65. Geburtstag, München 1974, vol. I-II; V. Bierbrauer, Joachim Werner. 23.12.1909-9.1.1994, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter, vol. 59 (1994), p. 11-17; K. Godłowski, Joachim Werner, [in:] J. Gurba, A. Kokowski (eds.), Kultura przeworska, Lublin 1997, vol. III, p. 9-15; H. Fehr, Hans Zeiss, Joachim Werner und die archäologischen Forschungen zur Merowingerzeit, [in:] H. Steuer (ed.), Eine hervorragend nationale Wissenschaft. Deutsche Prähistoriker zwischen 1990 und 1995, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Ergänzungsband 29, Berlin-New York 2001, p. 311-415.