page_title: F. O. Oertel
hierarchical_section_title: F. O. Oertel
caption_attribution_description: English: Self-portrait by Oertel made during his 1892-1893 journey in Burma, detail, after F.O. Oertel, A Tour in Burma in March and April 1892, Rangoon: Supt. Of Govt. Printing, Burma, 1893, plate 23.
context_page_description: Friedrich Oscar Oertel was a German-born engineer, architect, and archaeologist. He is best known among Indian art historians and archaeologists for having excavated the archaeological site of Sarnath in the winter of 1904–1905. It was here that in March 1905 he unearthed the capital of an Ashokan pillar, which was to become the national emblem of India. However, probably because he was mainly involved as a civil engineer and architect in the Public Works Department, his contributions to the fields of art history and archaeology are largely overlooked in the historiography of South Asian art and archaeology.
context_section_description: Friedrich Oscar Oertel (December 9, 1862 – February 22, 1942) was a German-born engineer, architect, and archaeologist. He is best known among Indian art historians and archaeologists for having excavated the archaeological site of Sarnath (India, Uttar Pradesh) in the winter of 1904–1905. It was here that in March 1905 he unearthed the capital of an Ashokan pillar, which was to become the national emblem of India. However, probably because he was mainly involved as a civil engineer and architect in the Public Works Department, his contributions to the fields of art history and archaeology are largely overlooked in the historiography of South Asian art and archaeology.
caption: F.O. Oertel in Bagan (1892)
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