Gedanken zum wissenschaftlichen Umgang mit archäologischem Fundgut aus Privatsammlungen – eine Fallstudie aus Südösterreich

Abstract

Private collections often contain a large number of archaeological finds, some of them really interesting, which can be used as a source. However, since most of these collections do not originate from professionally conducted fieldwork, the finds are often regarded as unreliable sources because during the recovery of the finds by amateurs/laymen, consciously or unconsciously, the context of the findings was not scientifically recorded or even destroyed. Using examples from southern Austria, the possible information gain for archaeological research will be explored and the handling of private collections in general will be discussed. In this context, the critical handling of private collections should be addressed and related considerations discussed.