General description of the collection
The geological-palaeontological collections contain over 100,000 objects. Some of the special collections are of great regional importance, such as the collection of ice-age boulders and the 70-million-year-old fossil finds from the Lägerdorf mine (Schleswig-Holstein). The amber collection, most of which can be viewed on FUNDus!, and the extensive collection of fossilised squid are of particular scientific importance. The collections contribute to research into the connections between geological processes, climate change, evolution and the long-term development of species diversity.
Collection history
The geological-palaeontological collections go back to the Geological State Institute founded in 1907, which in turn emerged from the mineralogical and geological-palaeontological collections of the former Hamburg Natural History Museum. A large part of the collection was destroyed in an air raid in 1943. Some of the collection items with traces of fire still bear witness to the bombing today. The collections were rebuilt after 1945. Since 1975, the collections have been housed in the Geomatikum, Bundesstraße 55. Since 2021, the geological-palaeontological collections have been integrated into the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB).
Is it possible to view the collections?
Particularly exciting objects from the geological-palaeontological collections can be seen in the Museum der Natur Hamburg - Geology-Palaeonotology on the ground floor and basement of the Geomatikum.
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