About the Exhibition "Planet Africa"

Africa has the longest history of Homo sapiens and their ancestors on our planet. This is where human history began, and from here new cultural techniques and nutritional strategies were spread throughout the world. The continent fascinates with its diversity. People have adapted to constant (environmental) changes and developed new survival strategies. Never before have these experiences been as important as they are today.

Archaeological finds, images, and written records offer insights into the art, crafts, technology, and environment of past times and provide evidence of exchanges over great distances. Excavations reveal urban structures, while at the same time diverse nomadic ways of life existed.

The exhibition is based on the research results of the Entangled Africa der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). African street artists are also involved, having designed illustrations and cinematics for the exhibition themes.
 

The six themes of the exhibition

1.     Diversity – Natural wealth through diversity
2.     Humanization – First decisive steps
3.     Know-how – Agile knowledge & flexible technology
4.     Signs & images – Knowledge is visualized
5.     Raw materials – Exchange, trade, power
6.     New perspectives – African archaeology today

The individual themes repeatedly refer to current research projects. They range from the origins of the human species to the development of new cultural techniques and nutritional strategies that spread from Africa to the rest of the world. The result is a panorama of a continent that, faced with constant environmental change, adaptation processes, and migration, has repeatedly had to develop new survival strategies.

“Planet Africa: An Archaeological Journey Through Time” is a special exhibition by the German Archaeological Institute and the Museum of Prehistory and Early History – National Museums in Berlin. It has already been shown in Berlin and Munich.