Magdalene von Dewall was the only anthropologically oriented specialist in East and Southeast Asian archaeology in Germany in her generation. Her scholarly work on chariots, Dian bronzes, funerary archaeology, and other topics, was often far ahead of its time when published, and it remains worth reading. This article attempts to recount Magdalene von Dewall's biography and intellectual lineage and to characterize her scholarly contributions. It also describes how, largely thanks to Magdalene von Dewall's assiduous efforts, her field of study has gradually gained a certain measure of academic recognition in Germany during recent years.
