Jorge Von Hauenschild

Abstract

The von Hauenschild collection was one of the founding collections of the Museo de Antropología, a university museum at the Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, located in Cordoba Capital, central Argentina. The collection is one of the largest at the museum with over 4000 objects from the nearby province of Santiago del Estero, a place almost unexamined by Argentinean archaeologists since the early works initiated by the Wagner brothers in the 1920s. Santiago has been seen as a marginal place in the national Argentinean history and perceived as an impoverished and remote place, but during part of the early 20th century, Santiago was thriving, especially at the time of the large railroad constructions in the country Santiago was also the home of the German-born engineer, Jorge von Hauenschild for 30 years. He formed the “von Hauenschild Collection” by excavating pre-historical tombs in the province in his quest for archaeological treasures. The collection has been almost untouched since the death of von Hauenschild in 1951. Research on the history of the collection shows the trajectory of von Hauenschild from a mere amateur to a professional archaeologist. Beginning as a collector of curious things, he transitioned into a modern archaeologist performing systematic archaeological investigations.