Erich Schmidt

Erich Friedrich Schmidt (September 13, 1897 – October 3, 1964) was a German and American-naturalized archaeologist, born in Baden-Baden. He specialized in Ancient Near East Archaeology, and became professor emeritus at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

When he was young, he fought in the World War I, and was captured by the Russians. In 1923 he moved to U.S., and studied anthropology at Columbia University. He was co-director of the Oriental Institute Hittite Expedition, with H.H. Von der Osten, and later on dug in sites as Tepe Hissar near Damghan in searching for ancient city Hecatompylos, and Rey. His most celebrated survey took place in Persepolis (Iran), from 1934 up to 1939.

Erich Schmidt was pioneer in aerial photography of archaeological sites. He died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1964.

Works

• Time-Relations of Prehistoric Pottery Types in Southern Arizona, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 30, no. 5 (1928)
• Anatolia Through the Ages: Discoveries at the Alishar Mound, 1927-1929 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1931).
• Excavations at Tepe Hissar, Damghan (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937).
• Flights Over Ancient Cities of Iran (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1940).
• Persepolis I: Structures, Reliefs, Inscriptions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1953).
• Persepolis II: Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957).
• Persepolis III: The Royal Tombs and Other Monuments (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
• The Treasury of Persepolis and Other Discoveries in the Homeland of the Achaemenians, OIC 21 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939);

External links

• The Persian Expedition 1930-1939, and [catalog of expedition photographs], at the Oriental Institute website,
• Biography and list of papers at the American Museum of Natural History Division of Anthropology Archives