neighboring disciplines, such as physical anthropology, ethnology, and prehistory. In accordance with the positivistic thinking of his time Virchow fought for a methodology that combined the careful analysis of skeletal remains with artifacts, linguistic evidence, and written sources. Ironically, Virchow is now best remembered for his failure to recognize the antiquity of the Neanderthal skeleton in 1856; he argued that it was not greatly different from those of modern humans.

The German Archaeological Institute (deutsches archäologisches institut, or dai) was actually founded in 1829 in Rome (under the name Instituta di Corrispondenza Archaeologica) but based itself in Berlin from 1832 onward, with a focus on classical antiquity and Mediterranean archaeology. In 1892 a special commission was established to investigate the Roman limes (frontiers) of central Europe (Reichslimeskommission). The research executed by this commission under the direction of the historian Theodor Mommsen also included fieldwork at various sites. These investigations became the basis for the establishment of a commission for Roman and Germanic studies (Römisch-Germanische Kommission, or RGK) within the DAI at Frankfurt in 1902. This event marked the beginning of regular research on the prehistory of central Europe, especially on the Bronze and Iron Ages, within the DAI.

The year 1902 was important for German prehistoric archaeology, not only because of the foundation of the Commission at Main but also because it was the year that Virchow died, bringing about the end of his universal and interdisciplinary concept for prehistoric research. What followed was a period in which—under the influence of growing nationalism and racism—the classical culture-historical paradigm of prehistory was developed and applied to the available archaeological finds on a large scale. Archaeological cultures, as visible on distribution maps, were equated with peoples. As a consequence of these developments prehistoric archaeology began to be taught at universities. The appointment of Gustaf Kossinna (1858– 1931) as professor at Berlin University in 1902 best exemplified this approach.

Kossinna believed that Germans and Aryans, represented physically as blond and blue-eyed Nordic types, were the pinnacle of creative humanity and had their homeland in southern Scandinavia, from whence they spread over Europe. His idea of prehistory as “a predominantly national science” would later become fundamental to the development of Nazi prehistory. Nevertheless, it is not possible to simply equate Kossinna’s ideas with those of Nazi archaeology. Although his publications are evidence of his strong nationalist and, indeed, racist thinking, Kossinna also tried to give prehistory a sound methodological basis, and his “settlement-archaeological method” (Siedlungsarchäologische Methode) became influential both in Germany and abroad. The early publications of vere gordon childe, for example, reveal the strong influence of Kossinna’s methodology.

After the National Socialist Party (NSDAP) was elected in 1933 German prehistory formally became part of the cultural policy of the Third Reich, terminating any scientific freedom. From that point forward the party effectively controlled all important new posts in major institutions, including universities. As only party members were allowed to occupy high offices, scholars of Jewish descent were dismissed. In this situation the representatives of the prehistory discipline had to choose between collaboration, resistance, or exile. The spectrum of possibilities can be illustrated by the biographies of four influential prehistorians of the time: Hans Reinerth, Herbert Jankuhn, gerhard bersu, and Gero von Merhart.

Hans Reinerth (1900–1990) was a lecturer in the late 1920s at Tübingen University and was well known for his excavations in the Federsee region in southwestern Germany. He joined the National Socialist movement early on and became an adherent of the new ideology. This enabled him to become a professor at Berlin in 1934. At the same time Reinerth became a leading figure in the “Rosenberg office” (Amt Rosenberg—named after Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s chief ideologist), whose task was to prevent deviations from National Socialist ideology. Herbert Jankuhn (1905–1990), who began his career in 1930 with the excavation of