Karl von den Steinen

Karl von den Steinen (center) and his companions on the first expedition in the Xingú region.

Karl von den Steinen (born March 7, 1855, in Mülheim, died November 4, 1929, in Kronberg im Taunus) was a German physician (with emphasis in psychiatry), ethnologist, explorer, and author of important anthropological work, which is particularly to the study of Indian cultures of Central Brazil, and the art of the Marquesas. He laid the permanent foundations for Brazilian ethnology.

Exploration 1879-1881: A journey around the earth 1882-1883: First German International Polar Year Expedition to South Georgia 1884: The first expedition to the Xingu River region of Brazil (see Xingu Indigenous Park) 1887-1888: Second Expedition into the Xingú region (Brazil) 1897-1898: expedition to the South Sea Islands (Marquesas)

Works Durch Central-Brasilien: Expedition zur Erforschung des Schingú im J. 1884 (Through Central-Brazil: expedition to explore the Xingú in the year 1884). Brockhaus, Leipzig 1886; Reprint: Fines Mundi, Saarbrücken 2006 Die Bakaïrí-Sprache: Wörterverzeichnis, Sätze, Sagen, Grammatik; mit Beiträgen zu einer Lautlehre der karaïbischen Grundsprache (The Bakairi language: vocabulary, sentences, stories, grammar, phonetics, with contributions to a basic language of the Caribs). Koehler, Leipzig 1892 Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Among the primitive peoples of Central Brazil) Reiseschilderungen und Ergebnisse der zweiten Schingú-Expedition 1887–1888 (Travel accounts and results of the second Schingú Expedition 1887-1888). Geographic Verlagsbuchhandlung von Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1894, Reprint: Fines Mundi, Saarbrücken 2006 Die Marquesaner und ihre Kunst: Studien über die Entwicklung primitiver Südseeornamentik nach eigenen Reiseergebnissen und dem Material der Museen (The Marquesas and their Art: studies on the evolution of primitive Südseeornamentik results according to travel and material of the museums), 3 volumes, Reimer, Berlin 1925–1928; Reprint: NY 1969; Reprint: Fines Mundi, Saarbrücken 2006 Volume 1 Tattooing: a history of the island group and a comparative introduction to the Polynesian custom, 1925 Volume 2 Plastic: with an introduction on "Material Culture" and an appendix "Ethnographic additions, 1928 Volume 3, The library, 1928