Johanna Mestorf 17 April , Bad Bramstedt , Duchy of Holstein — 20 July , Kiel was a German prehistoric archaeologist , the first female museum director in the Kingdom of Prussia and usually said to be the first female professor in Germany. In she went to Sweden as a governess to the family of Count Piper at Ängsö Castle , and there also studied Scandinavian languages.
Beginning in , Mestorf translated important Scandinavian archaeological works into German; these translations had a significant impact on the development of the field in Germany, particularly in establishing the Three-age system and typological study of artifacts.
In she was given an honorary post at the Kiel Museum; in this was merged into the Museum of Antiquities of the Fatherland Museum vaterländischer Alterthümer , the forerunner of the Schleswig-Holstein State Archaeological Museum at Gottorp Castle and of the Institute for Prehistory and Ancient History at the University of Kiel , at the same time becoming part of the university, and she became its first custodian.
In she succeeded the director, [6] becoming the first female museum director in Germany. On 17 April, her 81st birthday, she received an honorary doctorate in medicine from the university. Her research focussed on the prehistory of Schleswig-Holstein. She coined the terms Single Grave culture Einzelgrabkultur for the North German and South Scandinavian region of the Corded Ware culture , [14] [15] [16] Prachtmantel for the characteristic decorative Germanic rectangular cloak, similar to the Roman sagum , [17] [18] and Bog body Moorleiche for the human bodies and body parts found in European bogs.
Shortly before her death, Mestorf made a RM deposit in memory of her parents to endow an annual meal of "a strong beef soup with dumplings" for twelve impoverished elderly women in Bramstedt on her mother's birthday, 24 June. A street on the campus of the University of Kiel is named for her; on it are located the Department for European Ethnology and the Institute for Prehistory and Ancient History, where the Johanna Mestorf lecture theatre is also named for her and has a portrait of her on display.
