Page 3 - EXPOTIME!Sept2017

The director's intro

Are we all Africans?

A statement that is valid in a broader evolutionary per- research centre. Yet within the research centre and the
spective and has been taken for granted among research- exhibition they are used without any specific political con-
ers in palaeoanthropology and Pleistocene archaeology notation or emotional background. The basic idea of the
since decades. Even Charles Darwin assumed, already in exhibition is cool down a sometimes overheated public
th
the late 19 century, the origin of Man in Africa. And he discussion. The key messages of the exhibition include:
was right. The origin of the genus Homo is in Africa, and
anatomically modern humans started their ‘career’ in Af- 1. Migration is an integral part of being
rica as well. human.
2. Since two million years, humans adapt to chang-
This truism is suddenly challenged with respect to the ing conditions, including mobility and changes of
actual political discussion in Europe and beyond. Igno- location.
rance of scientific research results is increasingly gaining 3. Geoarchaeological research can make a valuable
ground. More than ever, scientists are called to intervene contribution to understanding universal human
and stand against racist and xenophobic movements by behavior both in the past and today.
providing further scientific evidence on global migrations
since the Ice Age. The most recent genetic studies shed A mixture of objects, different media and emotional en-
light on an extraordinary amount of migration events and counters shows reasons, mechanisms and consequences
mixing of populations over the last 50.000 years in Africa, of migration. Four big migration events are the backbone
Europe and Asia. These high resolution data on frequent of the exhibition, each a milestone of prehistory: the so
prehistoric migrations and back-migrations were so far called “Out of Africa"event I and II, , the Neolithic ex-
nearly invisible to previous paleoanthropological and ar- pansion of the first farmers from the Near East to Central
chaeological research methods. Europe and the immigration of people at the beginning of
the Metal Ages from Asia into Central Europe. Each setting
These are the reasons for the Neanderthal Museum to cre- has its specific conditions and environment. Three differ-
ate, in close cooperation with the Collaborative Research ent strands of archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and
Centre 806 “Our Way to Europe"at Cologne University, palaeogenetic data are interwoven within the exhibition
the touring exhibition “Two Million Years of Migration”. to tell the migration story of each event.
The current political situation inspired the concept of the
exhibition. It intends to link cutting edge geoarchaeolog- Using the same terms and keywords as in the current public
ical research of the research centre to current societal discussions, the exhibition creates a space for knowledge
issues. The terms and keywords of the political debate transfer from science to citizens and encourages visitors
on migrants are the same as within the framework of the to change perspective. Through the lens of the scientists
and by providing scientific data
in a comprehensible way, visitors
are enabled to take up a position
unaffected by current events. In
addition, the exhibition offers a
special approach for kids. Above
all, they are one of the groups
interacting the most with mi-
grant peers, in kindergarden and
school, and by doing so contrib-
ute the most to integration and
tolerance.

Enjoy the issue.

Prof. Dr. Gerd-Christian Weniger
Director Neanderthal Museum
Coordinator Western Mediterra-
nean, CRC 806
3

EXPOTIME!, issue August/September 2017