After seven semesters in mid-1949 he received his doctoral degree with a thesis titled "Untersuchungen zur Eisenzeit in Mitteldeutschland" ("Investigations of the Iron Age in Central Germany").
[2] He took part in various excavations in Turkey (Boğazkale) and Syria (Tell Chuera), and began work on the Tell Kamid al lawz in Lebanon in 1963 together with Arnulf Kuschke, professor for Old Testament studies at the University of Mainz.
In 1982, he initiated the excavations near the village of Drama in the Yambol Province of southeast Bulgaria together with Jan Lichardus and Alexander Fol, heading the efforts until his retirement.
He authored important works on topics which included the Bronze Age in central Europe and the archaeology and history of Germanic peoples.
Those whose doctorates he supervised include the former director of antiquities for the Saarland, Alfons Kolling, the mining archaeologist Gerd Weisgerber and François Bertemes, professor of prehistoric archaeology at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.