Ole, Max

Max Ole was born in 1856 in the family of a respected surgeon, close to the court of the Saxon nobility. In 1875, Max Uhle graduated from Meissen , served in the army and then studied philology and general linguistics at the universities of Leipzig and Göttingen , preferring Oriental and East Asian languages ^[5] . In 1880, he defended his doctoral dissertation on Chinese grammar ^[5] under the direction of Hans Georg von der Gabelenz .

In 1881-1888, Ole served as an assistant at the Royal Zoological and Anthropological-Ethnographic Museum of Dresden ^[5] . In 1882, he met the traveler and collector Alfons Stübel , who returned from South America , who transferred part of his collection to the museum. Stubel's book “ Totenfeld von Ancon in Peru ” about his trip to Peru aroused great interest in this field of knowledge in Max Ole ^[5] .

In 1888, Ule was transferred to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin under the supervision of its founder Adolf Bastian , who shared Ule's new passion ^[5] . Ole specializes in pre-Columbian culture on the west coast of South America. He was particularly interested in cultural relations and the chronology of their origin.

Since 1891, Ole planned to go on a three-year (1892–1895) research expedition with Stübel. In 1892-1893, Ole explored the north of Argentina , in 1894 reached La Paz in Bolivia , at the same time described the language of Aymara ^[6] . In official letters to the government of Bolivia, he called for the protection of the Tiahuanaco monuments, which were in a terrible state, and also posted a copy of the letter in the newspaper El Comercio (published May 7, 1894) ^[4] . The unstable situation in the country forced Ule to leave ^[7] .

Ole was able to resume field work thanks to sponsorship from the University of Pennsylvania . In January 1896, Ole flew to Lima , Peru . Excavations began in March in Pachacamac , 30 km south of Lima ^[7] . According to the layers of the earth, he was able to establish a sequence of cultural layers, the last of which was the culture of the Inca Empire ^[8] .

The report on the work done in Pachacamac was highly appreciated and is still used as a guide to the study of South American archeology. Ole confirmed the version about the presence of Tiwanak stone sculptural images on ceramics, fabrics and other artifacts in these coastal zones. He collected and collated 90 thousand artifacts from different areas over the age of 3000 years ^[7] .

For several years, Ole gave lectures at the University of Pennsylvania , was engaged in translations. In Philadelphia, he met his future wife of German descent Charlotte Gross. In 1902, Ule excavated in San Francisco Bay using the stratigraphic method , discovered and documented kyokkenmedings ^{[9] [10]} .

Thanks to financial support from Fibby Epperson Hurst (1842-1919), the mother of William Randolph Hurst , Ole excavated and collected artifacts in Peru in 1899-1905 (now exhibited at the Phoebe Hurst Anthropological Museum at the University of Berkeley ) ^[11] . In 1989, Ole discovered the Huaca de la Luna in the style of Mochic , a place he called “proto- con” ^[9] . Since December 1900, for two months, Ule has been excavating in the Inca Valley, since January 1901 he goes down to the Hasienda Ocucaje valley, where he finds in the graves beautiful painted vases of Nazca and Paracas cultures ^[11] .

Since 1904, the University of California at Berkeley planned to expand its museum collection by funding the work of Max Ole in Trujillo (Peru), but in 1905 the contract was not renewed. Perhaps the refusal was due to the adoption of new rules in Peru regarding the export of archaeological values.

Ole took up the post of head of the archaeological department at the National Museum in Lima , and was also engaged in research in the south of Sierra Peru. Since 1909, increasing financial problems and intrigues led to the transfer of Ole in 1912 to the Ethnological Museum of Santiago in Chile . In addition to museum work, Ule studied the antiquities of the Chilean north ^[7] .

In 1917, he was the first to scientifically describe and classify the Chinchorro mummies ^[9] .

In 1920, Ole was invited to Ecuador by the historian, politician and archaeologist Jacinto Gijon and Caamagno (1890-1950) ^[7] . Political problems in the fate of Kaamagno in 1924 led to the termination of the contract with Ole. The Ecuadorian government established the Department of Ecuadorian Archeology at the Central University of Quito , where in 1925 Ule received a position and was able to continue his museum and archaeological activities. Ole managed to discover the ruins of the Incan city of Tumebamba in Cuenca and explore the pre-Columbian cultures on the Pacific coast and the Ecuadorian Sierra ^[12] .

In 1933, 77-year-old Max Ole returned to his homeland as an almost impoverished person. He got a job at the recently created Ibero-American Institute , where he lectured. In 1935 and in 1939 he went to the Congress of Americanists in Seville and Lima. In connection with the outbreak of World War II, he was able to return to Berlin only in 1942. Fleeing the bombing, Ole and his family moved first to Saxony , then to Silesia , where he died in May 1944 in a medical institution in Lubliniec ^[4] .

Many of Ole's works have not been published ^[5] . Max Ule's legacy is kept at the Ibero-American Institute of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin .

The works of Max Ole:

• 1903 - Pachacamac
• 1907 - The Emereville Shellmound
• 1908 - La esfera de influencia del país de los incas
• 1910 - Über die Frükulruren in der Umgebung von Lima (report presented at the 16th International Congress of Americanists) ^[5] .
• 1912 - Las relaciones prehistóricas entre el Perú y la Argentina
• 1912 - Los Orígenes de los incas
• 1913 - Die Ruinen von Moche
• 1917 - Las fortalezas incaicas de Incallacta y Machupicchu
• 1920 - Los principios de las antiguas civilizaciones peruanas
• 1920 - Los principios de las civilizaciones en la sierra peruana
• 1935 - Las antiguas civilizaciones del Perú frente a la arqueología e historia del continente americano

Some public institutions are named after the archaeologist:

• The German school in Arequipa in Peru is named after Max Ole.
• Kasma Museum of Local Lore named after Max Ole

1. John Howland Rowe. Max Uhle, 1856-1944: A Memoir of the Father of Peruvian Archeology. - Literary Licensing, LLC, 2011 .-- 146 p. - ISBN 1258093928 .
2. Max Uhle y el Perú antiguo / Peter Kaulicke. - Lima: Fondo Editorial PUCP, 1998 .-- 363 p. - ISBN 9972421392 .