The Neanderthal Museum at Mettmann near Düsseldorf invited the members of the C-Cluster to the first "Science Day" on November 16th, 2014 and we happily accepted.
Our scientists presented different aspects of their work to the public. Both, finished results from projects from the past few decades and current research were presented. The visitors could see and experience everything from simple stone artefacts to highly modern 3D-scans, and they experienced different research materials and methods. Dr. Martin Kehl and his team explained geoarchaeological methods – one of which was the analysis of micromorphological thin-sections whereas Tabea Schröder and Jasmin van't Hoff demonstrated results of test drills in Spain.
Dr. Jörg Linstädter's team offered a large quantity of archaeological material which the visitors could examine hands-on. Stone artefacts, potsherds, jewellery made out of ostrich eggshells and prehistoric snail shells from excavations in northern Morocco were studied with a lot of interest by guests and visiting scientists. Dr. Rainer Hutterer from the Museum Koenig in Bonn supported the team with his knowledge about prehistoric fauna.
Modern methods like 3D-scanning of archaeological artefacts or the digital reconstruction of prehistoric pathways and settlement areas with geographical information systems were presented by the team members Yvonne Tafelmaier and Maria de Andrés-Herrero.
Our researchers had fun answering the many questions from young and old – the first "Science Day" was not only interesting and informative for the visitors. The researchers happily accepted the challenge of explaining the concepts of their research to a wide audience.
A ca. 7 minute long video presentation accompanied the information stands, called a "Pecha Kucha presentation". The video summarized the last 20 years of research in northern Morocco. It was shown along with other videos in the auditorium of the Neanderthal Museum and is available for viewing on the Youtube Channel of the museum.
 Dr. Marin Kehl explains micromorphology.Photo: Jens Alvermann |
 Info-point of northern Morroco archaeological research. Photo: Jens Alvermann |
 Info-point of geoarchaeological research.Photo: Jens Alvermann |
 Demonstration of 3D-scanning of stone artefacts. Photo: Jens Alvermann |
