He unearths the mysteries of humanity

Portrait I Astrid Tomczak

There’s a moment in the interview when Gino Caspari says a sentence almost casually. “I’ve found myself tied up on a chair on several occasions.” He says it the way others talk about weather phenomena, and the journalist thinks: OK, that could also be meant – somehow – in a figurative sense. She made a cautious enquiry. “No, I really was tied up. But I knew I was in the clear. I had all the papers.” This is perhaps a typically Swiss reply from a man who grew up in Steffisburg and is “at home” in Länggasse, Bern. If there can be such a thing as home for someone who spends months on end travelling somewhere in the world – and who sometimes also sits tied up on a chair in China because he has mapped areas that are in prohibited military zones. He cites as a role model Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer who crossed the Pacific on a simple raft in 1947. In the collective memory, Heyerdahl is synonymous with the adventurer par excellence, a man somewhere between genius and madness. Caspari also has something of an adventurer about him, with his long hair and his penchant for laconic storytelling, as in the episode with the chair.

Looking for puzzles from an early age

When asked how he ended up in archaeology, he goes back to his childhood. “I’ve been interested in puzzles from an early age,” he says. “And there are quite a lot of unanswered questions in archaeology.” Nature played a major role in young Gino’s life: his father liked hunting, his mother was very interested in plants and he describes his grandmother as a “herb witch”. He also says that, in terms of his natural temperament, he is more of an “all-rounder”. “I probably would also have been happy as a marine biologist.”

At high school, he opted for biology/chemistry as his main subject, then studied archaeology and art history and added a master’s degree in business administration. He then learnt Mandarin in China and Taiwan, completed a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies in the USA and gained a doctorate in archaeology in Hamburg.

“Archaeology can provide a substantiated answer to the question of where we come from.”

The 37-year-old has been participating in excavations all over the world for about 15 years, from China to Alaska. He abandoned his research in China in 2017. “The surveillance, the re-education measures, the cultural genocide – it became difficult to be jointly responsible for field research in this context,” he says. He transferred his research to Russia, where he made what is perhaps his greatest discovery to date: deep in a marsh in the Republic of Tuva near Mongolia, he and his Swiss-Russian excavation team found not only the largest, but probably also the earliest Scythian princely tomb in southern Siberia. The research team has been on the trail of the mysteries of the legendary equestrian people here since 2017. The archaeologist with the tousled hair, who has practised martial arts (“tricking”) intensively at the highest level for 18 years, is perfectly suited to this excavation: Caspari’s life indeed looks like a dizzying ride through countries, disciplines and languages. And he lets others share in his adventures: his 128,000 followers on Instagram can follow almost live when Caspari presents and classifies objects that are thousands of years old fresh from the excavation. For the researcher, the platform is a contemporary channel for science communication – he has even published his findings in a specialized journal. So, archaeology can be good entertainment, but what makes it a relevant science? “Archaeology can provide a substantiated answer to the question of where we come from,” says Caspari. He refers to the age of the modern human being – around 300,000 years old. “People have been able to write for 5,000 years, so we can only gain a better understanding of everything that came before that through archaeology.”

A precarious privilege

Anyone who clicks through Caspari’s picture gallery and videos might easily get the idea that he is a modern-day Indiana Jones staging his life as one big adventure. But that doesn’t do him justice. The flipside of the fascinating world on Instagram is a hand-to-mouth existence. “My living standard is that of a student,” says the man who has already headed teams of up to 200 people on his excavations. “Although I do find funds repeatedly to finance my research projects, the problem is financing myself.” In this respect he shares the plight of many young researchers – including in the Young Academy, of which he has been a member since it was established.

“My living standard is that of a student.”

“I thought it was a good thing the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences were willing to let younger voices be heard,” he says. “Otherwise, the academic world is organized fairly hierarchically, from the top down.” In his view, the Young Academy is also a place of exchange for people who are battling with similar problems. But Caspari immediately relativized those words. Of course, he says his financial situation is insecure – he wouldn’t be able to afford to have children at the moment, for example. On the other hand, he says he is very privileged. “If I feel like going somewhere, I look for a grant and pursue a project.” For example, last summer he was travelling in Alaska, he is currently diving on a shipwreck off Minorca and has submitted a project for research near the Easter Islands. “A colleague works for an organization that would provide a ship for research journeys in the Pacific. That gives me an opportunity to drift off to some very remote areas.”

Dreams come true

There he is talking again, the lad from Steffisburg who’s always on the lookout for new puzzles. “I stumble over unresolved questions. And my brain is wired in such a way that I immediately think about what resources and people I need to solve a problem – the more difficult it is, the better.” Gino Caspari can be very stubborn while on this track. Sometimes to the point of exhaustion. “Previously, I often used to overestimate my own limits, in the early days I always thought I only had to work hard and long enough to achieve my goal.” Experience has taught him that there are limits – be they political, as in China, or structural, as in the academic world. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, interest in Central Asia has declined – and with it, interest in experts like him, although he is one step ahead in digital archaeology.

“My brain is wired in such a way that I immediately think about what resources and people I need to solve a problem – the more difficult it is, the better.”

Nevertheless, Gino Caspari cannot be regarded as a pessimist. Perhaps a door will open at UNESCO, for which he has already worked extensively in the area of the world cultural heritage, or maybe the start-up GeoInsight, which he co-founded in 2022, will one day bring him financial independence. “We are building a digital twin of our Earth.” These are the words Caspari once used to describe the start-up’s mission. GeoInsight could thus become a very important player in the risk assessment of natural disasters or the consequences of climate change. Either way, there are still enough puzzles waiting to be solved by a researcher like Caspari. Does he still have dreams? “I dream all the time. That’s all I can say about it.”

A globetrotter with roots in Bern

Gino Caspari was born in Steffisburg near Thun in 1987 and studied archaeology, art history and business administration in Bern, gained a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies at Columbia University (USA) and a doctorate in archaeology at the University of Hamburg. Geographically, he specializes in Central Asia, methodologically in digital archaeology. He finds a balance to his research in sport: he practises martial arts acrobatics, known as “tricking”, climbing and diving. When he’s not busy with an excavation somewhere in the world, he lives in Länggasse in Bern and enjoys the convenience that comes with living in Switzerland – for example, drinking tap water.