Hanns Juergen Prem

Background

Hanns Prem was born on January 18, 1941 in Vienna, Wien, Austria, Austria, in the family of Karl Julius and Vlasta (Drazsky) Prem.

Education

After finishing his Austrian Matura degree that would enable him to go to the university, he entered the Free University of Berlin in 1959 and began his studies with Ethnology, pre-Columbian Studies and Prehistory as well as Physical Anthropology. After only two years he changed to the University of Hamburg because he wanted to pursue his new interest in pre-Columbian writing systems and colonial texts, two subject matters which in these times were in the focus of research and teaching of Günter Zimmermann.

Career

Since 1968, Hanns taught in Munich, where he in 1977 habilitated. In 1980 he became Professor of Ethnology in Munich, in 1983 at the University of Göttingen and since 1988 at the University of Bonn, where Prem was retired in 2003. From 1970 to 1974 Prem took in Puebla, Mexico and from 1982 to 2003 in Yucatán / Campeche in excavations.

From 1987 to 2002 Prem was a member of the advisory board of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. He was a full member of the German Archaeological Institute. 1981 to 1991 Prem was editor of the magazine Mexicon. In addition, he was a member of the editorial boards of the magazines Ancient Mesoamerica, Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, Arqueología Mexicana and Temas Antropológicos. Prem was on the scientific advisory board of the 2007 discontinued popular science magazine Adventure Archeology, After his retirement, he was among other things active as an honorary author in the German-speaking Wikipedia.

Achievements

• Hanns's academic contributions include several books and publications about North and South American archaeology and ethnohistory as well. His contributions to the field, however, go much beyond research projects and the writing of publications. More than anybody else among his German speaking colleagues, Hanns has tried to institute the field of Altamerikanistik in the academic landscape and to secure its future in economically challenging times.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Explorations in ethnohistory: Indians of central Mexico in the sixteenth century 1984
  • Ancient Americas: A Brief History and Guide to Research 1997
  • Geschichte Altamerikas (Oldenbourg Grundriss Der Geschichte) (German Edition) 2008
  • Die Azteken. Geschichte - Kultur - Religion. 1999
  • Milpa y hacienda : tenencia de la tierra indígena y española en la cuenca del Alto Atoyac, Puebla, México, 1520-1650 (Coleccion Puebla) (Spanish Edition) 1988
  • SPANISH COLONIZATION AND INDIAN PROPERTY IN CENTRAL MEXICO, 1521-1620 1992
  • El Antiguo Mexico - History Y Cultura De Los Pueblos Mesoamerican 1986
  • Het oude Mexico 1987

Personality

He was a gentleman of the old school, but could be as happy as a child when he finally found a remote archaeological site in the bush of Yucatan. He had a fine sense of humor with which he often made his friends laugh. Hanns was a most reliable colleague, a mentor and teacher par excellence and a warm-hearted friend.

Connections

Prem was married to ethnologist Ursula Dyckerhoff. In 2004 his wife Ursula died. Hanns announced that he had found a new life partner and wife in Lakshmi Rauschenbach.

Father:

Karl Julius Prem

Mother:

Vlasta (Drazsky) Prem

spouse 1st:

Ursula Dyckerhoff

spouse 2nd:

Lakshmi Rauschenbach

Friend:

Peter Schmidt

colleague:

Ian Graham