Lubor Niederle (September 20, 1865 – June 14, 1944) was aCzecharcheologist,anthropologist andethnographer. He is seen as one of the founders of modern archeology inCzech lands.
He was born inKlatovy. He studied at theCharles University in Prague from 1883 to 1887. He was initially interested in classical archaeology, then studied anthropology, sociology and ethnology. Later, he studied inMunich under professor Johannes Rank (1889) and inParis under professor Léonce Manouvriere at theÉcole d’anthropologie. Niederle also travelled in several Slavic countries, studying archaeological findings and historical documents.
In 1898 Niederle was named professor at the Charles University. As archaeologist he had represented the "university school" (univerzitní škola), opposed to the "museum school" (muzejní škola) represented by archaeologistJosef Ladislav Píč.
During 1907–08 Niederle served as adean of Faculty of Philosophy, during 1908–09 as a vice-dean and during 1927–28 as arector of the faculty. In 1919 he helped to establish State Archaeological Institute (Státní archeologický ústav), today's Institute of Archaeology (Archeologický ústav).[1] He also published many articles about Slavic ethnography and archaeology and was editor of several specialised journals. Niederle had helped to set up Slavic Institute (Slovanský ústav) in Prague[2] and directed it from 1928 until 1931.
Among his most-known works areHandbook of Czech Archaeology (Rukověť české archeologie, 1910, withKarel Buchtela) and mainly the eleven-volume seriesSlavic Antiquities (Slovanské starožitnosti) published between 1902 and 1934. This series exhaustively investigated origin and prehistory of theSlavs, continuing earlier work by historianPavel Josef Šafařík.
Niederle died on June 14, 1944, inPrague.
