Diffusionismus trifft Prähistorie. Vere Gordon Childe (1892–1957) und sein archäologisches und ethnologisches Netzwerk in Wien

Abstract

Austrian prehistorians and ethnologists. A central theme of his archaeological research was cultural diffusionism, which played a significant role in ethnology, especially in interwar Vienna. This text's first part addresses Childe's contacts with archaeology in Vienna with a focus on his visits there to the Natural History Museum, which also took him to Znojmo and Moravské Budějovice in former Czechoslovakia. Childe's relations with Adolf Mahr, director of the National Museum in Dublin, and with Oswald Menghin, who occupied a key position in Austrian prehistoric research during the interwar period, are examined in detail. The second part highlights Childe's ethnological connections in Vienna. It focuses on the collaboration between Childe and Father Wilhelm Koppers, who in 1936 published an extensive work on the cultural-historical origins of Indo-Europeans to refute Nazi doctrine. The question of what influence the Vienna school of ethnology had on Childe's concept of diffusion is clarified. For this contribution, numerous correspondences from twelve archives were consulted, revealing new insights into the academic networks of these protagonists.