The interest of people in Germany in archaeology and antiquity

Abstract

People in Germany have a high level of personal interest in archaeology and in the topics of antiquity and the ancient world, 46 % of them say their interest is strong to very strong. Significantly less interest is shown by 16- to 19-year-old secondary school pupils, but interest is particularly high among adults in the 30-49 age group, and this is largely independent of gender, education and income. Personal interest apart, the assessment of the importance of the two topics is even higher: 88 % of the population assess them as being important to very important. Even among those who admitted to little personal interest, 61 % of respondents assessed the topic as being “important” or “very important”. Correspondingly high is the interest in active involvement, and also the preparedness to make a donation or pay for it, if needed.
The figures are based on a survey conducted in winter 2015/2016 in the Düsseldorf area by students of ancient history at the Heinrich- Heine University of Düsseldorf. It was possible to obtain 1,258 respondents, including 202 school pupils. The results are similar to the findings of a study in 2014 in and around Vienna which was likewise carried out by students and involved 500 respondents (Karl et al., 2014). In the comparison between Germany and Austria, the enthusiasm for antiquity/the ancient world and archaeology was even slightly higher in Germany than in Austria.