Gunnar Heinsohn

People

Gunnar Heinsohn (b. 21 Nov 1943 Poland d. 16 Feb 2023 Poland) holds a university diploma in sociology (1971) and doctorates in the social sciences (1973) and in economics (1982). Since 1984 he has been a tenured professor at the Universität Bremen, Germany. His research focuses on the history and theory of civilization.

On Velikovsky

Heinsohn writes:

“.. I restate my deep disagreement over Velikovsky’s legacy. I subscribe to his basic assumptions that catastrophes happened and chronologies are wrong. I do, however, take him to task on nearly every detail within that framework. Some assume that he did not leave any legacy whatsoever for the advancement of scholarship. Yet, I do not rule out that we will witness other controversies concerning Velikovsky in the future.”^[1]Gunnar Heinsohn, “Ancient Near Eastern Chronology Revised”, Velikovskian vol. 1 No.1 (1993)

Revised Chronology and Stratigraphy

P John Crowe writes that:

“Heinsohn, from an extensive study of archaeological reports from most of the better known sites across Asia Minor, showed how dating anachronisms had arisen. At site after site, archaeologists had artificially increased the age of the lower strata by inserting, without supporting evidence, ‘occupation gaps’ of many centuries. .. Heinsohn has presented many well-researched papers exposing stratigraphical problems, and suggesting much lower chronologies for Near Eastern civilisations.”^[2]P John Crowe, “5.5 G Heinsohn and the Evidence of Stratigraphy” in “The Revision of Ancient History – A Perspective”, Revision No.2 August 2007. Online at the SIS Web site

William Mullen writes:

“Heinsohn’s methodology involves respect for stratigraphy and scepticism about ‘dark ages’ posited in contradiction to stratigraphic evidence. He has applied it to evidence from the Iron Age to Neanderthal Man, with a resulting compression of time which makes even a Velikovskian reel: the transition from Bronze to Iron Age occurs around -600, from Neolithic to Bronze around -1000, from Neanderthal to Modern Man around -2000. His only ‘dark ages’ are the breaks in strata indicating evidence of catastrophic events: incineration, flood strata, clay, loess, climate change. Stratigraphy is thus the key to both the elimination of spurious centuries from conventional historiography and the identification of the global discontinuities associated with human artefacts. The bad news for Velikovskians is that even the chronology of the Ages in Chaos series is revealed as ignorant of stratigraphy and hence still overextended. The good news is that the very strata which provide the proper time frames for human history also index with some precision the number and extent of the catastrophes humans can have remembered.”^[3]William Mullen, “Worlds in Collision After Heinsohn”, SIS Chronology & Catastrophism Review 1997:2 (Apr 1998)

Quotes

“As long as Velikovskians run away from the strong points in Velikovsky’s works to build their edifices on the weakest points of mainstream scholarship, they will end up as bastards who, for good reasons, nobody will listen to.”^[4]Gunnar Heinsohn, “Catastrophism, Revisionism and Velikovsky” (Vox Populi letter), Kronos Vol. XI No. 1 (Fall 1985)

Selected bibliography

In Aeon

• “Did the Sumerians and the Akkadians Ever Exist?”, Aeon vol.1 No.2 (Feb 1988)
• “The Israelite Conquest of Canaan”, Aeon vol.1 No.4 (Jul 1988)
• “The Stratigraphy of Bahrein: An Answer to Critics”, Aeon vol.1 No.6 (1988)
• “Egyptian Chronology: A Solution to the Hyksos Problem”, Aeon vol.1 6 (1988)
• “Early Glassmaking And Chronological Puzzles”, Aeon vol.2 No.1 (1989)
• “A Chronological Note on the Kassites”, Aeon vol.2 no.2 (1990)
• “The Chronology of Lyres”, Aeon vol.2 No.3 (1990)
• “Old-Babylonian and Persian Terra-Cotta Reliefs”, Aeon vol.2 No.4 (1991)
• “Timna and Egyptian Dates”, Aeon vol.2 No.5 (1991)
• “Who Were the Assyrians of the Persian Period”, Aeon vol.3 No.2 (May 1993)
• “Astronomical Dating and Calendrics”, Aeon vol.3 No.3 (Oct 1993)
• “The Stratigraphical Chronology of Ancient Israel”, Aeon vol.3 No.6 (Dec 1994)
• “The Rise of Blood Sacrifice”, Aeon vol.4 No.5 (Nov 1996)

In Catastrophism and Ancient History

• “The Israelite Origins of Monotheism and the Prohibition of Killing”, Catastrophism and Ancient History, vol.4 No. 1 (January 1982)
• “Mycenaean Culture: The Shift in Recent Historiography from its Destruction by Invasion to Destruction by Natural Agents”, Catastrophism and Ancient History, Gunnar Heinsohn and Christoph Marx, vol.4 No. 2 (July 1982)
• “Were the “Sumerians of the Third Millennium” in Reality the Chaldeans of the First Millennium?”, Catastrophism and Ancient History, Gunnar Heinsohn and Christoph Marx, Proceedings of the First Seminar of Catastrophism and Ancient History (Held December 1982) 1983

In Kronos

• Abraham and Monotheism (Forum Letter), Kronos Vol. X No. 3 (Summer 1985)
• Catastrophism, Revisionism and Velikovsky (Vox Populi letter), Kronos Vol. XI No. 1 (Fall 1985)

In SIS Workshop

• “The Thirteenth Theory of the Hyksos”, SIS Workshop 1992 No.1

In SIS C&C Review

• “Saint Cuthbert”, SIS C&C Review v2003

In the Velikovskian

• “Ancient Near Eastern Chronology Revised”, Velikovskian vol. 1 No.1 (1993)
• “Early History of the Israelite People: Biblical Fundamentalism in History (I) & (II)”, Velikovskian vol. 2 No.1
• “Cyrus The Mardian/amardian Dethroner Of The -6th Century Medes And Aziru The Martu/amurru (Amorite) Dethroner Of The -14th Century Mitanni”, Velikovskian vol. 3 No.1

See also

• Clark Whelton, “Heinsohn, Velikovsky and the Revised Chronology”, Aeon vol.1 No.2 (Feb 1988)
• Clark Whelton, “Heinsohn and the Hyksos (An Answer to Martin Sieff)”, Aeon vol.2 No.1 (1989)
• William H. Stiebing, Jr., “Heinsohn’s Revised Chronology”, Aeon vol.2 No.5 (1991)
• Ev Cochrane, “Heinsohn’s Ancient “History” “, Aeon vol.5 No.4 (Jul 1999)
• William Mullen, “Worlds in Collision After Heinsohn”, SIS Review 1997 No. 2
• Emmet J. Sweeney, “Velikovsky, Glasgow and Heinsohn Combined”, SIS C&C Review 2003
• A. H. Rees, “A Chronology for Mesopotamia (contra Heinsohn)”, SIS Workshop 1992 No. 2
• Sjef van Asten, “Additional Data for the Combined Velikovsky, Glasgow and Heinsohn Scenario?”, SIS Workshop 2005 No.1

External links

• Gunnar Heinsohn on Wikipedia
• Gunnar Heinsohn at the 2009 Conference on Quantavolution in Kandersteg, Switzerland