Mapping, description and interpretation of the „Pottsteine“ – A project on contemporary archaeology

Abstract

Pottsteine are colorfully painted stones that have been laid out mainly in the urban parts of the Ruhr area and posted online since 2020 by members of a group of around 25,000 people within the social network Facebook. The aim of these activities is to convey positive messages. As part of a university course, in 2022 these stones were classified as recent archaeological finds and mapped using archaeological methods. As the location of the study, the area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, was chosen. There, the spaces that are particularly heavily frequented by the group members can be traced based on the spatial distribution of the stones. In addition, including methods from other disciplines, information from the Facebook group feed was
evaluated, which provides information about the motifs on the stones, the motivation of the group members and the group dynamics. The project in particular is a contribution of contemporary archaeology to the exploration of an exemplary selected urban public space, which is continuously shaped by the actors of the group through private traces in the form of intentionally deposited objects. Based on an archaeological approach, the study shows an example of one of the numerous niches used by different groups that have developed over the course of a few years in the ecosystem of Zollverein Park, which was originally provided and planned centrally by public authorities. In addition to the potential, the limits of a study of this format also become visible, which should also be understood as a contribution to the scientific discourse.