He studied classical philology and archaeology at the University of Göttingen, then continued his education with Heinrich Brunn (1822–1894) at Munich (1871).
From 1875, he performed research in Italy and Greece, where he worked was an assistant at the German Archaeological Institute in Athens (1877–79).
In 1900, with his brother Alfred, he began the first excavation at Gordion, an ancient Phrygian city in Asia Minor.
In 1904, the two brothers published their archaeological findings in a treatise called Gordion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung im Jahre 1900.
With Adolf Klügmann (1837–1880), he continued edition of Etruskische Spiegel, a project involving systematic study of Etruscan mirrors that was initiated in 1843 by Eduard Gerhard (1795–1867).