Prof. Dr. Kurt Schietzel, who was born in Hamburg in 1993, studied Protohistory, Ethnology and Education in Hamburg and Cologne and obtained his doctorate in 1961. In 1962 he started working as an assistant at the Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archeology of the University of Kiel (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel) and received a scholarship from the German Archeological Institute in Berlin (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Berlin). His studies at the time lead him to Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and Egypt. In 1963 he began a new position at the Archealogical Museum of Schleswig-Holstein (Landesmuseum für Vor-und Frühgeschichte) at Gottorf Castle. From 1969 onwards he managed the department for research on Vikings and medieval settlement archeology and in 1983 he became the director of the archeological museum of the University of Kiel. Later, from 1995 to 98, he was the manager of the Viking Museum of Hedeby. Today he is retired.

Schietzel supervised significant excavations: The excavations of Hedeby, 1963–'69, the excavation of the city of Schleswig, 1969–'75, and from 1977 to '85 he led the project “Inspection of the port and the salvage of ships in Hedeby”. He was decorated with medals by the University of Kiel as well as the Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, he is an honorary member of the Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab and in 2002 he was awarded a Cross of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany.