Gerhard Bersu (26 September 1889 – 19 November 1964)
Early life
He was born in Jauer in Silesia in 1889 to a Jewish father. He was interested in prehistory from a young age and began his archaeological career while still a school boy, by joining in Carl Schuchhardt's excavations near Potsdam in 1907. He was reassigned to a lower position at the German Archaeological Institute as Officer of Excavations, Berlin in 1935 and then was forced to retire later that year.
Little Woodbury excavations
thumb|A reconstruction of an Iron Age roundhouse at Little Woodbury|alt=
Following his forced resignation from the German Archaeological Institute and the worsening anti-Semitic laws in Germany Bersu emigrated to Britain with his wife in 1937.
At the invitation of British archaeologist Osbert Crawford as the president of the Prehistoric Society, Bersu conducted excavations in 1938 and 1939 at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire, introducing novel continental methods to the study of British prehistoric sites. The site had been first identified as a crop mark from an aerial photograph of the area, but it was not until Bersu's excavations that the significance of the site was realised.
Bersu's systematic investigation was revolutionary for its time in England, and his excavation helped to reinterpret earlier misconceptions of Iron Age Britain. Before Bersu's investigations, it was believed that the inhabitants of these sites lived in holes in the ground due to the discovery of dug pits from similar sites. But Bersu's identification of cereal grains and animals bones showed that these were storage pits for food, and the discovery of large postholes helped Bersu to convince British archaeologists that the inhabitants lived in a large Iron Age roundhouse that was also excavated on the site. Initially they were separated, with neither aware of the others location, with Maria in Rushen Camp, and Bersu in Hutchinson Internment Camp, Douglas. At Balladoole, Bersu expected to excavate an Iron Age hill fort, but instead also discovered Mesolithic remains; a Bronze Age cist; a Christian keeill (a small chapel); a Christian burial ground, and a Viking Age boat burial. The discovery of additional human remains at Ballateare and Balladoole have been interpreted as examples of Viking ritual slave sacrifice.
Most of Bersu's investigations on the Isle of Man were at locations accessible by public transports, as neither he nor any of the other internees had cars. As Bersu used fellow internees for the excavations, however despite the presence of armed guards, they were not permitted to use pickaxes. Instead, the digging was done with trowels.
Bersu and his wife continued living and excavating on the Isle of Man after the end of World War II until 1947. Taking up his former post at the Institute he continued his work until retiring in 1956.
Bersu excavated at the settlement of Green Craig, Creich, Fife in 1947.
Bersu died suddenly while attending a meeting of the German Academy of Sciences in Magdeburg.