|
|
  |
Prof. Dr. Ekke W. GuentherOBITUARY Prof. Dr. EKKE W. GUENTHER A few month before his 88th birthday, on 19 March, 1995 the palaeontologist and geologist Prof. Dr. habil. EKKE WOLFGANG GUENTHER died at the residence of his family, the Lehenhof near Freiburg / Br.. E. W. GUENTHER was born on 14 July 1907 in Freiburg, as the son of a family with important scientific and publishing traditions. Beginning in 1930/31 he studied geology, geophysics, zoology and geography in Goettingen, Muenchen and Freiburg. Under the care of W. SOERGEL in 1939 he finished his PhD on stratigraphic and tectonic questions of the Freiburger Bucht region (SW Germany). Two years later followed his habilitation with studies on problems of tectonic and ground water questions in south-western Germany. After a period as an assistant at the University of Kiel E. W. GUENTHER obtained a professorship in 1953. Since 1958 to his retirement in 1971 he acted as the head of the Ice Age Research Section of the Geological-Palaeontological Institute and Museum of the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel. Here he raised broad activities in Quaternary research. Besides stratigraphic investigations in loess sections, which mostly have been linked with the chronology of Palaeolithic cultures, and anthropologic as well as hydrogeological studies, GUENTHER worked intensively on Quaternary mammal remains. During early times isolated finds and find complexes from the northern part of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), mostly teeth of elephants and skeletal remains of other larger mammals (Alces, Megaloceros, Rangifer, Bos) have been studied by him. For several decades he was involved in research projects on Pleistocene sites in Thueringen (Voigtstedt, Sußenborn, Weimar-Ehringsdorf, Taubach, Burgtonna, Bilzingsleben). Here he was working on elephant and beaver remains. Later, and especially during the last years, fossil material from Alsace and the Upper Rhine area gained in importance for him. As a part of the Mexico project of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in 1965/66 and in 1967 E. W. GUENTHER excavated several faunas of Upper Pleistocene age from the Puebla-Tlaxcala basin (Valsequillo area).
From 1952 on E. W. GUENTHER acted as a co-editor of the scientific journals "Schriften des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schleswig-Holstein" (up to 1981, vols. 26 - 51) and "Meyniana" (up to 1974, vols. 1- 25). In 1966 he was elected as chairman of the Hugo-Obermaier-Gesellschaft fáár Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit (since 1982 honorary chairman). For the volumes 18 (1967) to 48 (1995) of the corresponding publication series "Quartär" he was one of the editors.
With EKKE W. GUENTHER we lose a well-versed colleague, a valuable person and a good friend. R.-D. KAHLKE
|
|
For more information about the content, contact the editor: |
