Schliemann The Terrible Father of Archaeology

Schliemann The Terrible Father of Archaeology A terrible father impacts his child in one of two ways, either the child grows up to mirror the father or the child learns from the fathers mistakes and becomes a much better parent as a result. Hienrich Schliemann was a war profiteer. After getting rich he wanted to be taken seriously by the scientific community so he turned to archaeology. A stubborn man, a compulsive liar, a teller of tall tales, and a con artist he caused irreparable damage to archaeological sites and in the process lost many valuable materials that could have been a wealth of information. Although Schliemann had terrible values and skills as an archaeologist and should have never been allowed to pick up a shovel, he contributed more to archaeology than anyone before him. He raised interest in Greek sites, brought archaeology to the common household and made many great discoveries that contributed to our knowledge of the past. The scrutiny against his work provides a more detailed understanding of his findings then there would have been had he not been challenged. In the twenty years that Schliemann worked as an archaeologist he made great discoveries and caused an equal amount of damage to precious archeological sites. Schliemann was the perfect terrible father of archaeology because Archaeology, like the good child, learned from his mistakes and was able to create a generation of archaeologists who not only built on Schliemann’s great achievements, but also didn’t repeat his same mistakes. Schliemann was a wealthy merchant who made his fortune off other people’s suffering. Prior to becoming a self-taught archaeologist Schliemann was a cunning businessman. His success in part was due to his very fortunate endowment that allowed him to be successful in his business ventures (Michaelis). With his good startup he was able to corner the saltpeter market in March 1855 and make an enormous fortune from the Crimean War (Michaelis). After making an

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