Kathrin Polenz:Christian Keferstein – Ein Amateurgeologe im mitteldeutschen Raum um 1800 und seine Zeitschrift „Teutschland, geognostisch-geologisch dargestellt“

Christian Keferstein (1784–1866) was a self-educated geologist in early 19^th century Germany. His pre-scientific period may be regarded as an example of how research in nature was conducted not only by academics but also by so called “Dilettanten” (amateurs). Keferstein’s journal Teutschland, geognostisch-geologisch dargestellt was published for over ten years beginning from 1821 and was intended to provide a forum for geological studies in Germany. The fact that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe colored a geological map as an insert for the 1^st edition of the journal shows how dilettantism was part of professional research, even though experts did hardly refer to it. This article is to show how this kind of common research was done during the early stages of geology – when the discipline was still open to amateurs – and how results could be published. Therefore the profile of Keferstein’s journal reflects not only the specifics of amateurs observations but also a lack of experts that could satisfy the need for standardized observations, especially for the production of detailed maps.

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