The new NIhK Depot for Archaeological Finds: Pottery shards, slag and stones are on the move!

For more than 90 years, the NIhK has been conducting archaeological excavations, primarily in the coastal regions of the southern North Sea, with the aim of reconstructing the strategies developed by societies of the time across different historical periods to live and sustain their economies under changing environmental conditions. As very few written sources have survived from before the Middle Ages, the cultural-historical analysis of the objects recovered during excavations is of paramount importance. This applies equally to the shards of broken vessels or slag from metalworking—often recovered in large quantities—as well as to tools and implements made from various types of stone. Even though these objects have little material value, they are of inestimable scientific importance, as it is only through the analysis of this material that conclusions can be drawn about the age of the respective settlements, as well as the means of subsistence and economic activities of the societies of the past.

After the NIhK had rented archive rooms for the safekeeping of these objects for many decades, the institute now has access a state-owned building for long-term use, enabling significant savings. In the first week of May 2026, the time had finally come for the finds—packed in boxes and crates and stacked on pallets—to be moved to the new depot and arranged by NIhK staff on the prepared shelving systems.