Exhibition:
Migration – Nobody Has Always Been Here
Migration – Niemand war schon immer hier
Information
In 2016, the DFG and external referees approved the project of a touring exhibition about human migration mainly supported by research data of the CRC 806. From May 13th - November 5th, 2017, the exhibition will be on display for the first time at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, and will subsequently travel to museums in German-speaking countries. The main goal is to raise awareness for the fact that migration is not a modern phenomenon but has deep roots in human evolution. The exhibition sheds light on the earliest history of human exodus. These topics match the research questions and the multidisciplinary approach of the CRC 806 perfectly.
The exhibition was inspired by current political evolvements in Europe and is supposed to bridge the time span between the Ice Age and today. An important aim is to raise awareness for how archaeology can help us when we are coping with contemporary societal challenges. By drawing attention to the earliest history of human development, the exhibition would like to show that migration has always been an integral part of human existence – it is not a contemporary phenomenon. The exhibition illustrates the expansion of Homo erectus and later anatomically modern humans from Africa to Asia and Europe, as well as the Neolithisation of Europe, which was tied to the immigration of modern humans from the Near East.
Using selected artefacts, media productions, and emotional encounters with our own history, the exhibition hopes to convey the reasons, mechanisms and consequences of the phenomenon ‘Migration’ – a process we are all participating in. Moreover, Hannelore Kraft, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, has agreed to serve as the exhibition’s patron.