ABSTRACT
The founder of the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut (B.A.I.) of the State University of Groningen, the late Prof. Dr. A. E.van Giffen, started his scientific career at the beginning of the 20th century as a student of biology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. From 1920 to 1954 Prof. van Giffen was director of the B.A.I. On the recommendation of his successor, Prof. Dr. H. T.Waterbolk, systematic archaeozoological research was started in Groningen in 1959. Van Giffen saw in 1913 the discipline of archaeozoology, or Haustierkunde as it was called then, as an independent discipline alongside archaeology and philology. A new aspect in the work of Van Giffen is that in his opinion it is necessary to add to the description of the animal remains the measurements that could be taken of the bones. These measurements should be clearly defined and always be the same. This necessity still exists in 1983.
