 Until his death, Virchow was several times (at least fifteen times) its president, often taking turns with his former student Adolf Bastian.As president, Virchow frequently contributed to and co-edited the society's main journal "Zeitschrift für Ethnologie" ("Journal of Ethnology"), which Adolf Bastian, together with another student of Virchow, Robert Hartman, had founded in 1869.In 1870, he led a major excavation of the hill forts in Pomerania.