Georg Loeschcke

Who was Georg Loeschcke?

Georg Loeschcke was a German archaeologist born in Penig, Saxony.

He studied archaeology under Johannes Overbeck in Leipzig, afterwards continuing his education at the University of Bonn, where he was a student of Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz. In 1877-78 he participated in a study trip to Greece and Italy under the aegis of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. As a result of this research he published with Adolf Furtwängler, Mykenische Thongefäße, a landmark work that provided important historical timelines for Mycenaean pottery. In their investigations of Mycanaean pottery, Loeschcke and Furtwängler gave distinctions between it and Geometric pottery.

In 1879 Loeschcke became a professor of philology and archaeology at the University of Dorpat, where he co-authored another important work on Mycenaean pottery with Furtwängler titled Mykenische Vasen. In 1887 he was appointed first secretary to the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Athens, and two years later succeeded Kekulé as professor at the University of Bonn. At Bonn, he was dean to the faculty, university rector and director of the university museum.