Mitja Brodar
Mitja (Demetrij) Brodar (13 January 1921 – 16 February 2012) was a Slovenian paleontologist. He was a son of Srečko Brodar, a pioneer of the study of the Paleolithic period in Slovenia. In the 1960s and 1970s Brodar, together with France Osole, led Paleolithic research in Slovenia.[1]
Life
He was born in 1921 in Celje, where his father was teaching science at Celje High School No. 1.
During the Second World War, in the Italian-annexed Province of Ljubljana, he joined the Slovene Partisans. He was captured in 1942 and sent to the Italian concentration camps in Rab, Rijeka, and Visco.[2]
Education and work
Brodar studied civil engineering at the University of Ljubljana, at the wish of his father; he graduated in 1949. Later he also studied geology and paleontology, and he graduated in 1953.[1] In 1952 he became a member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL).[3] Between 1954 and 1956 and in 1960 he excavated Mokrica Cave (Slovene: Mokriška jama). He received PhD in 1959 with a thesis on those excavations.[1] Betal Rock Shelter (Betalov spodmol) is another site he excavated.[4]
He helped establish the Slovene archaeological association and served as its president during the 1970s. Together with his father, he wrote a book on the excavations at Potok Cave (Slovene: Potočka zijalka).[5]
Divje Babe flute
Brodar disputed the characterization of the Divje Babe flute, believing that it was not a musical artifact and that Neanderthals did not make such artifacts.[6]
Research volume
Brodar published a synthesis of his research in an open-access Slovenian–German bilingual research volume, Stara kamena doba v Sloveniji / Altsteinzeit in Slowenien (The Paleolithic in Slovenia; 2009, Ljubljana, 717 pp.).
References
- ^ a b c Turk, Matija. "Brodar, Mitja (1921–2012)". Slovenska biografija (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ Pavlin, Primož (2012). "Izbrana bibliografija Mitje Brodarja" [Selected Bibliography of Mitja Brodar] (PDF). Arheološki vestnik (Acta Archaeologica) (in Slovenian) (63): 12–16. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "Naši člani" [DZRJL Membership] (in Slovenian). Društvo za raziskovanje jam Ljubljana [Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society]. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ Horvat, Jana (2012). "MITJA BRODAR (1921–2012)" (PDF). Arheološki vestnik (Acta Archaeologica) (in Slovenian) (63): 11–12. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ Brodar, Srečko; Brodar, Mitja (1983). Potočka zijalka: visokoalpska postaja aurignacienskih lovcev [Potočka zijalka Cave: High-Alpine station of Aurignacian Hunters]. Ljubljana: Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. p. 213.
- ^ Brodar, Mitja (26 September 2008). ""Piščalka" iz Divjih bab ni neandertalska" [The Divje Babe "Flute" is not Neanderthal] (in Slovenian). Retrieved 20 June 2019.