The Digital Network for Collections is supporting a project at FU Berlin’s Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology that originated as a student initiative. The goal is to revitalize the institute’s collection, which had been temporarily neglected, and to unlock its untapped potential for research and teaching. The collection comprises approximately 25,000 archaeological finds and replicas, including objects from HU Berlin’s Chair of Pre- and Early History, which was dissolved in 2011 and whose history dates back to the early 20th century.
A central component of this initiative is the digitization of the collection. The objects are being inventoried and systematically recorded in a local database. To optimize the benefits for research, teaching, and the interested public, the digitized collection will also be accessible online and searchable at the object level. The Digital Network for Collections provides an object viewer for this purpose, with plans already in place for a future migration to the FU Berlin’s infrastructure for presenting the collection.
You can find more information in the guest post by the participating students on our blog.