Karl Jettmar

Professor Dr. Karl Jettmar (1918-2002) was born in Vienna, Austria - his interest in ethnographic and prehistoric art can be traced back to the influence of his father, a well known artist. During WWII, Jettmar was conscripted into the army and was soon heavily wounded. Thus he got a leave to complete his PhD at the University of Vienna. Beginning in 1955 he conducted semi-annual ethnographical and archeological fieldwork in Northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan for some 20 years, sponsored by the...See more

Professor Dr. Karl Jettmar (1918-2002) was born in Vienna, Austria - his interest in ethnographic and prehistoric art can be traced back to the influence of his father, a well known artist. During WWII, Jettmar was conscripted into the army and was soon heavily wounded. Thus he got a leave to complete his PhD at the University of Vienna. Beginning in 1955 he conducted semi-annual ethnographical and archeological fieldwork in Northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan for some 20 years, sponsored by the German Research Foundation. His research focussed on the pre-Buddhist and pre-Islamic religions and arts of these areas, which were also the main themes of his six major books and numerous articles. In 1958 Jettmar became associate professor in Vienna, and three years later was appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Mainz. In 1964 he became head of the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the South Asia Institute, the University of Heidelberg. Jettmar retired in 1983 and authored further publications in his remaining decades on the indigenous religions, art and prehistory of Central Asia. See less