Significance of the crowd – Citizen Science: link to the public

Abstract

Preservation and care of field monuments by volunteers differs in Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania significantly by organisation and structure among other states of Germany, based on the specific history of archaeological science in this federal state. Unfavourable political circumstances causing a lack of an appropriate presentation of the rich prehistoric and historic heritage of the region in the last decades. Recently, several reasons lead to increasing efforts by the public to solve this grievance. Since November 2014 the citizens’ action group “Initiative pro Archaeological State Museum of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania” (IPAL) has started to work towards the foundation of an archaeological museum and to raise the significance of the professional archaeology in Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania. Due to the mobilisation of volunteers in the field of preservation and care of field monuments, there is a base to solicit the regional archaeology to the public, including state citizen as well as politicians and tourists, too. Several approaches and strategies were applied to accomplish the installation of an Archaeological State Museum for Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania to make the archaeological heritage of this federal state available for the public.