– 1974 in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

) was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

-born Mexican archaeologist and anthropologist.

He arrived in Mexico with many other intellectuals during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. He became a Mexican citizen in 1971.

Career

Although he began studying Law, he changed to Philology, in which he obtained a doctorate in 1911. With the aim of becoming professor of Greek he also obtained a doctorate in History in 1913. From 1911 to 1914 he studied Greek Philology, Prehistory and Ancient History in Berlin, with the aid of a scholarship granted by the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios. Once there, the advice of Wilamowitz-Moellendorf made him change course and he moved from Greek language and literature to prehistoric archaeology.

From 1916 to 1939, he was chair of Ancient and Medieval History at the University of Barcelona. At the same time he served as director of the Archaeological Research Service of the “Institut d'Estudis Catalans”. From the publication in 1919 of Prehistòria Catalana, he strongly advocated the use of Catalan in scientific publications. Between 1916 and 1931, he led the archaeological section of the museums of Barcelona; from 1931 to 1933, he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Philology; between 1933 and 1939, he was rector of the University.

Involved in Catalan politics, he was Minister of Justice of Catalonia in the Government of Lluís Companys. After the events of 6 October 1934, he was made prisoner along with other members of the Catalan Government on the ship Uruguay, which aroused international complaints. After the Spanish Civil War he went into exile in Mexico, together with many intellectuals. Subsequently he suffered from a vilifying campaign at the University of Barcelona. He acquired Mexican nationality in 1971.

He also taught at the universities of Berlin (1921), Edinburgh (1936), Oxford (1939–1941), Paris (1961) and Heidelberg (1966), among other European universities. From 1941, he was professor at the Autonomous University and the School (Escuela General) of Archaeology at the University of Mexico City, positions he held until his death in 1974.
He was also a professor at the University of Guatemala (1945–1947), director of the Division of Philosophy and Humanities of UNESCO (1948–1953), and secretary general of the Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (1953–1966)

Honorary memberships

The most important:

• Honorary member of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
• Honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries of London
• Honorary member of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans of Barcelona
• Honorary member of the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut of Berlín
• Honorary member of the Hispanic Society of America of Washington
  Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
  
  
• Correspondent member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  
• Correspondent member of the Pontificia Academia Romana di Archeologia of Rome
  Rome
  Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
  
  
• Correspondent member of the Archaeological Society of Jutland

Main works

• Prehistòria Catalana: edats de la pedra i dels metalls, colonització grega, etnografia (1919)
• La arqueología preromana hispánica (1920)
• Etnología de la Península Ibérica (1932)
• El poblamiento antiguo y la formación de los pueblos de España (1945)
• El Próximo Oriente en la Antigüedad (1964)
• El problema indoeuropeo (1968)
• La Universitat i Catalunya (1969)
• Historia de Oriente (1971)
• La América precolombina (1971)
• Las raíces de Europa (1974)
• La América prehispánica (1974)

External links

at the Universidad de Michoacán

• Special Collection: Pere Bosch Gimpera (University of Barcelona Library)