Dörpfeld, Wilhelm

Born Dec. 26, 1853, in Barmen; died Apr. 25, 1940, on the island of Levkas, Greece. German archaeologist.

Dörpfeld began his field work as an architect at the excavations in Olympia (1877-81). From 1887 to 1911 he was director of the Athens branch of the German Archaeological Institute. He conducted excavations at Athens and on the island of Levkas. Of special importance are his excavations in Troy, initially with H. Schliemann (in 1882 and 1890) and then, in 1893-94, independently. Dörpfeld developed the methodology of archaeological excavation in layers, which has basically been retained to this day.