Collection area services
With its more than ten million findings, the Archaeological Museum Schloss Gottorf owns one of Germany’s oldest and most comprehensive archaeological collections. With its research, it has attained both a national and international reputation. This would not be possible without the services from the collections area. Highly specialised experts work there - from storeroom employees to specialist conservators - who contribute significantly to the collection, maintenance and research of our State’s archaeological heritage as well as supporting scholars from other organisations in their work.
Collecting
In addition to the ethnological collection with almost 6,000 items, the museum’s archaeological collection incorporates in excess of 10 million findings from 80,000 years’ human history. And grows and grows. Thus, the museum takes over all findings from the Archaeological State Office Schleswig-Holstein as well as private collections and legacies with a high scientific value.
New findings are initially registered at the Archaeological State Office Schleswig-Holstein and then taken over by the Archaeological Museum. Here, sophisticated cataloguing and storage using state-of-the-art technology including barcoding takes place. The already existing collection is also being digitally inventoried gradually. Depending on the material, the findings are stored in different depots with specific climatic conditions.
Storage
The museum has a large restoration workshop where archaeological findings are preserved, restored and prepared for exhibitions and research projects. One of the museum’s specialist areas is the preservation of archaeological wet wood. In particular in this field of work, the museum also takes over work for third parties within the scope of collaboration.
Research
The museum carries out continuous basic research for its own existing collection. Here, it treats questions relating to settlement, economic and social archaeology, experimental and grave archaeology. Moreover, the museum supports research by other institutes by providing scholars findings and archive material and actively taking care of their visitors with the services from the collections area. Thus, the specialists also take samples from material findings or support the scientists by preparing x-ray images.
Presentation
The museum presents selected exhibits in its permanent exhibition and in special exhibitions. Moreover, it provides items on loan worldwide. Here, too, services from the collections area are active in many different ways. They support during exhibition setup and breakdown – for example by constructing exhibition furniture as well as the assembly and disassembly of items. If items are lent to other houses, the collection area services are also responsible for the technical processing of the items lent from removal of the findings via courier work up to local assembly.
