Frans Blom
Frans Blom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 9 August 1893 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Died | 23 June 1963 |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Known for | Research of Maya civilization |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Archaeologist |
Frans Blom(9 August 1893 – 23 June 1963) was a Danish explorer andarchaeologist.He was most associated with his research of theMaya civilizationof Mexico and Central America. [1][2]
Biography
[edit]Frans Ferdinand Blom was born inCopenhagen,Denmark to a middle-class family of antique merchants. He passed a matriculation exam atRungstedand received a trade education in Germany and Belgium. He started travelling, eventually reaching Mexico in 1919, where he found work in the oil industry conducting map and geologically survey the states of Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas. Travelling to remote locations in the Mexican jungle, he became interested in theMayaruins which he encountered where he was working. He started drawing and documenting these ruins. After he showed his work to theNational Museum of Anthropology (Mexico),it financed some of his expeditions. [3]
In 1922 he could leave the oil industry following a bout ofmalaria.He met American archaeologist andMesoamericanscholarSylvanus G. Morleywho was conducting fieldwork in Mexico and Central America. Morley brought Blom toHarvard UniversityinCambridge, Massachusetts,where he received a formal education in archeology for two semesters during 1922–23. [4]
From 1923, he taught atTulane UniversityinNew Orleansand during his tenure, he undertook several expeditions toMesoamerica.In 1923 his studies atPalenquedocumented a number of features neglected by earlier researchers. In 1924 Blom excavated the Mayaarchaeological siteofUaxactuninGuatemala.From his explorations around theIsthmus of Tehuantepec,he wrote some of the first scholarly reports of a number of sites of theOlmeccivilization. During 1925, he traveled with American anthropologistOliver La Farge(1901–1963) to what is now known as theOlmec heartland. In 1926 he was made head of Tulane's newly established Department of Middle American Research.[5]
In 1932 he was married to the American Mary Thomas, but six years later they were divorced. Blom acquired an alcohol habit which later forced him to retire from the university. Blom moved to Mexico, where in 1943, he met Swiss photographerGertrude “Trudi” Duby(1901–1993), whom he married. [6] [7]
In 1950, the Bloms bought a large house inSan Cristóbal de las Casas.This house was dubbedCasa Na Bolom( "House of the Jaguar" ). The Bloms turned the house into a cultural and scientific center with rooms for visitors, with Gertrude continuing the enterprise for decades after Frans’ death. The house became a home base for expeditions and archeology, such as the nearbyMoxviquiland noted expeditions into theLacandon Jungle. The Bloms continued undertaking expeditions for the Mexican government. Blom died in 1963, at age 70 atSan Cristóbal de Las CasasinChiapas,Mexico.His former residence now functions as the site of the museum Na Bolom. [8]
Selected works
[edit]- I de store Skove: Breve fra Meksiko(1923)
- Tribes and Temples(1926-1927)
- Conquest of Yucatan(1936)
- La selva Lacandona(1955), with Gertrude Duby
References
[edit]- ^"Frans Blom".Na Bolom Cultural Association.Archived fromthe originalon November 28, 2020.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^"Frans Blom".Asociación Cultural Na Bolom.Archived fromthe originalon January 28, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^"Frans Blom".Dansk Biografisk Leksikon.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^Eric S. Thompson (1949)."Sylvanus Griswold Morley, 1883-1948".American Anthropologist.51(2): 293–297.doi:10.1525/aa.1949.51.2.02a00090.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^"Oliver La Farge".The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^Lyons, Richard D. (29 December 1993)."Gertrude Blom, 92, Long a Chronicler Of Mayan Cultures".The New York Times.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^"Gertrude Duby de Blom".Asociación Cultural Na Bolom.Archived fromthe originalon March 3, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
- ^"Frans Blom".Den Store Danske.RetrievedSeptember 1,2020.
Other sources
[edit]- Brunhouse, Robert L. (1975).Pursuit of the Ancient Maya: Some Archaeologists of Yesterday.University of New Mexico Press. pp.168-214.ISBN9780826303639.
- Johansen, Steen (2003).Fra jaguarens hus - en beretning om mayaforskeren Frans Blom.Spring.ISBN87-90326-51-2..
- Leifer, Tore; Jesper Nielsen; Toke Sellner (2002).Reunert: Det urolige blod - Biografi om Frans Blom.Høst & Søn.ISBN87-14-29826-0..
- Leifer, Tore; Nielsen, Jesper; Sellner Reunert, Toke (2017).Restless Blood: Frans Blom, Explorer and Maya Archaeologist.Middle America Research Institute.
External links
[edit]- Asociacion Cultural Na Bolom- website of the Na Bolom cultural center(in Spanish and English)
- Chiapas amber - Frans BlomArchived2009-10-27 at theWayback Machine
- Documentary Photographs of Gertrude Blom
- 1930 Leyrer & Blom
- 1930 Marwa’s Crush – Frans Blom & “Forever Amber”
