Von Jägern und Sammlern – oder – Das kleine Spiel

Abstract

Two stone tool collections from Denmark being presented as a gift to the court of Baden in Karlsruhe in the last quarter of the 19th century and shortly after that becoming part of the grand ducal antiquity collection (Großherzoglich Badische Altertümersammlung) are the starting point for an examination how people dealt with antiquities by the end of the 19th century. Eleven similar stone tool assemblages from northern Europe – similar in size, composition, arrangement as well as in their access to public collections – can be identified in other museums (e. g. Braunschweig, Bucharest, Meiningen, Munich, Stuttgart). Seven different donators are the origin of the 13 donations investigated. Their motivation is more closely looked at against the setting of the circumstances during the end of the 19th century. Looking over the collections leads to the identification of further donations of that time similarly motivated. The supply of antiquities on the one hand, according to the demand on the part of many museum collections on the other hand and, moreover, the aspirations of the donators to decorations of the princes’ courts have brought numerous objects into antiquity collections.