Gottlieb Schumacher

In 1869, Jacob Schumacher settled with his family in the Templer colony, where he became the chief architect and builder.

In the course of this survey he produced the first accurate maps of these regions, along with detailed descriptions of the archaeological remains and the contemporary villages.

From 1903 to 1905 Schumacher carried out excavations at Tell el-Mutesellim, the mound containing the ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo.

His main excavated area at Megiddo was a trench 20–25 metres (66–82 ft) across, running north–south through the center of the mound, a method widely used in those days[1] and influenced by Heinrich Schliemann's digs at Troy,[2] but considered unfortunate by later archaeologist due to the very large amount of soil removed in a manner that offers little stratigraphic information to future researchers.

The massive intervention in this relatively small tell led for instance to overlooking the potentially very important stele fragment of Pharaoh Sheshonk I, usually identified with biblical King Shishak, which was later found in the pile of dump created by Schumacher's trench, thus out of its original stratigraphic context and rendered almost useless for dating purposes.

The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute or Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era (German: "Gottlieb-Schumacher-Institut zur Erforschung des christlichen Beitrags zum Wiederaufbau Palästinas im 19.

for the Research of the Christian Contribution to the Reconstruction of Palestine in the 19th Century'), is part of Haifa University and has its seat in the "Keller-Haus", once the home of F. Keller [de], a prominent member of the Templer community.