 Menghin was born in Meran, Tyrol.He qualified for inauguration as an academic lecturer in 1913, for his work "Urgeschichte des Menschen" ("The Proto-History of Mankind").After the death of Moritz Hoernes he emerged as university professor of the Protohistorical Institute of the University of Vienna from 1917 until 1945, and furthermore he was from 1930 to 1933 professor at the University of Cairo.