GIFFEN, Albert Egges van

(1884–1973)

   Professor of prehis tory and Germanic archaeology at the universities of Groningen and Amsterdam from 1930 to 1954. Van Giffen studied biology and wrote his thesis “Die Fauna der Werten” in 1913. He supervised the excavation of the terps (mounds) in the province of Frisia. In 1920, van Giffen became director of the recently founded Biological Archaeological Institute at the University of Groningen. One of the many scientific subjects that drew van Giffen’s attention was the pre historic graves, such as the hunebed (or monolith).