Geoscientific Collections, Berlin

The GESA Project

In the GESA project, financed by the DFG, a study of the complex historical relationship between the collection of geological specimens and economic, scientific, and political developments. The study was conducted using the extant specimens of the Royal Prussian Geological Survey in Berlin and the development of Prussia between 1860 and 1914.

The report documents the following work:

• Statistical analysis of the development of the individual fields represented in the collections; a total of 33,887 specimens were evaluated.
• Correlation of the development of the collections with the sequence of publication of the 1 : 25,000 geological maps of Prussia.
• Correlation of mining production rates and numbers of employees for selected mineral resources (coal, iron and manganese, non-ferrous metals, and pyrite) with the political and economic events and trends.
• Correlation of development of the collections and geological mapping with research, mineral resource production, and economic development in Prussia.

Results:

The number of specimens added to the collection each year varied considerably. Although the absolute numbers for the different parts of the collection differ greatly, the growth rates were nearly the same for all fields. The wars in 1864, 1866, 1870/71, and 1914 clearly correlate with minima in the number specimens added. Correlation of specimen inventories with geological mapping activity on the basis of the publishing dates of geological maps shows that 80 % of the specimens in each of the fields of petrography and stratigraphy and 43 % of the specimens for "Mineral deposits, mineral resources, mineralogy" were collected during geological mapping.

A relationship between scientific hypotheses and specimen acquisition is indicated, for example, by the large increase in erractics specimens after the idea of inland glaciation was proposed in 1875. It is striking that the specimen acquisition shows an inverse trend to that of the German stock market: The recessions of 1875-79, 1885-87, 1891-94, 1900-03, and 1906-08 correlate with maxima of new specimens.

The mineral resources statistics correlate well with the number of mining employees. The increase in productivity per employee resulting from the increase in the use of mechanical mining technology is seen in the sinking numbers of employees and increasing production beginning in 1885. The economic development as a whole in Germany had a much stronger influence on production rates of domestic mineral resources than new technologies. In some cases, a direct correlation is observed between economic developments and mineral resources production, for example, the increase in hard coal and iron ore production with the increase in railway kilometers in 1863-64 and after the nationalization of the private railways in 1879.

Political decisions correlate in some cases with both specimen acquisitions and mineral resources production: The acquisition of the German colonies in Africa in 1884-85 is documented by the oldest specimens from German Southwest Africa (present-day Namibia). The annexation of neighboring countries by Prussia in 1866 correlates with increases in production of manganese and iron ores in the mining districts of Hesse-Nassau.

The results of the project show that geological collections can yield valuable information about scientific history, and economic and political events.

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