Since 2016 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has funded a research project at the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin entitled ‘The territory of former East Prussia during the Roman Period and the Migration Period: the finds from the 1st to 7th century AD from the former Prussia Museum in Königsberg now in museums in Berlin (Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte) and Kaliningrad (Regional Museum of History and Arts)’.

The project aims to bring together, at least virtually, the unparalleled holdings of the Prussia Collection, now divided between Berlin and the Russian city of Kaliningrad. The work with the collections of the Prussia Museum encompasses the scholarly investigation and digital documentation of the surviving objects, as well as the reconstruction of the archaeological contexts of the graves and cemeteries in which they were found. International cooperation and concrete scholarly collaboration with the project partners in Russia, as well as in Poland and Lithuania, form essential components of the project. The analysis of these archaeological collections plays a key role in developing a better understanding of the history of the southern Baltic region in the first millennium of the Common Era.

The current documentation status of the Berlin holdings from the Prussia Collection can be viewed online: recherche.smb.museum and www.prussia-museum.eu

Contact: Dr. Christoph Jahn and Izabela Szter, research assistants, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Partner: Kaliningrad (Museum für Geschichte und Kunst)
Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Duration: since 2016