Nordenskiöld, Erland

Nordenskiöld, Erland

▪ Swedish anthropologist
in full  Nils Erland Herbert Nordenskiöld 
born July 19, 1877, Strömm, Sweden
died July 5, 1932, Stockholm

      Swedish ethnologist, archaeologist, and a foremost student of South American Indian culture. As professor of American and comparative ethnology at the University of Göteborg, Sweden (1924–32), he had a marked influence on anthropology in Sweden and Denmark.

      Son of the scientist-explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and cousin of explorer-geographer Otto Nordenskjöld, he made zoological expeditions to Patagonia (1899) and Argentina and Bolivia (1901–02) but turned to archaeological research in the mountains of Peru and Bolivia (1904–05). He made two subsequent expeditions to the forestlands bordering Bolivia and Brazil, one noteworthy result being his paper (1912) dealing with mounds and urn burials in Bolivia. In 1913 he became principal curator of ethnology at the Göteborg Museum. His final expedition took him to the Chocó and Kuna (Cuna) Indians of Colombia and Panama (1927). Pioneering in methods of mapping the distribution of many elements of South American culture, he succeeded in developing a remarkably clear reconstruction of cultural history in an area of considerable complexity.

      In addition to accounts of his travels written in a semipopular vein, Nordenskiöld wrote many scientific articles and books, including the richly illustrated work L'Archéologie du bassin de l'Amazone (1930; “Archaeology of the Amazon Basin”). His major work is Comparative Ethnographical Studies, 10 vol. (1918–38), in which he analyzed the material culture of Bolivian tribes and sought to relate natural environment and other influences on cultural patterns. He was skeptical of the theory of Kulturkreis (“culture sphere”), which postulates early diffusion of cultural elements from a primeval area of human development. He suggested that if there were Oceanian influences in South America, they dated from an extremely remote antiquity and that impetus to high civilization of America was Indian.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Erland Nordenskiöld — The title of this article contains the character ö. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Erland Nordenskiold. Erland Nordenskiöld …   Wikipedia

  • Nordenskiöld — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832–1901), finnland schwedischer Polarforscher, Kartograph und Reiseschriftsteller August Nordenskiöld (1754–1792), schwedischer Alchemist Erland Nordenskiöld (Nils Erland Herbert …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nordenskiold — Nordenskiöld Le nom Nordenskiöld ou Nordenskjöld est porté par des personnalités de Finlande, la plupart apparentées entre elles (par ordre alphabétique) : Anders Johan Nordenskiöld (1696 1753), militaire finnois [1]. August Nordenskiöld… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Erland — ist ein alter deutscher männlicher Vorname mit der Bedeutung „freier Mann“ (zu ahd. era „Ehre, Ansehen“ und lant „Land“). Seit dem Mittelalter ist der Name in Skandinavien verbreitet; entweder als Entlehnung aus dem Deutschen oder als… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nordenskiöld — (spr. schöld), Adolf Erik, Freiherr von, schwed. Geognost und Polarfahrer, geb. 18. Nov. 1832 zu Helsingfors, seit 1858 Prof. zu Stockholm, nahm von 1858 75 an allen schwed. arktischen Expeditionen teil, die er zum Teil (1864 und 1868) selbst… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Nordenskiöld — (spr. nūrdenschöld), Adolf Erik, Polarforscher, geb. 18. Nov. 1832 in Helsingfors, gest. 12. Aug. 1901 auf seinem Landgut Dalbyö bei Lund, studierte in Helsingfors und Berlin Mineralogie, fand dann in Stockholm Anstellung am Reichsmuseum,… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Erland Nordenskiöld — Baron Nils Erland Herbert Nordenskiöld (* 1877 in Stockholm; † 1932) war ein schwedischer Ethnologe und Anthropologe finnischer Abstammung. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Erland Nordenskiöld — Le baron Nils Erland Herbert Nordenskiöld (Stockholm 1877 1932) est un anthropologue et un archéologue suédois, issu d une famille d explorateurs et de savants originaire de Finlande qui fut province suédoise, puis grand duché rattaché à la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nordenskiöld (surname) — The title of this article contains the character ö. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Nordenskiold. Nordenskiöld or Nordenskjöld can refer to a number of Finland Swedish or Swedish people (many of them… …   Wikipedia

  • Nordenskiöld — Le nom Nordenskiöld ou Nordenskjöld est porté par des personnalités de Finlande, la plupart apparentées entre elles (par ordre alphabétique) : Anders Johan Nordenskiöld (1696 1753), militaire finnois [1]. August Nordenskiöld (1754 1792),… …   Wikipédia en Français

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