'Two Million Years of Migration'
An exhibition at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann shows that man has always been on the move.
Making visitors curious
A face divided into three parts with different skin colors. With this poster, the Neanderthal Museum draws the visitor into its current special exhibition on migration. The show highlights some interesting information. Did you know that lighter skin types only developed around 4,500 years ago?
Not only black and white
The exhibit opens with the ongoing project "Humanae" by Brazilian artist Angélica Dass, in which she depicts people of diverse skin colors. For each picture, a different background color was chosen that matches the complexion of the voluntary models. In this way, Dass created a "global mosaic." The project clearly shows that there's more than just black and white.
Interactive and multimedia elements
The exhibition makes use of modern multimedia technology. Next to anachronistic suitcases stand audio stations and videos that inform the visitor about the migration patterns of his or her forbearers. Touchscreen displays illustrate migratory routes on a world map.
Hunters, gatherers...and farmers
When farmers migrated from the Middle East to central Europe roughly 7,500 years ago, they encountered the local population - hunters and gatherers. Both groups intermixed culturally and genetically, leading to the spread of land cultivation, cattle-breeding, the construction of homes and, later, metal-working in Europe.
Why? How? Where?
Why and when did who go where? Mobile information cubes offer answers to the many questions about the migration of our ancestors. Quite often, climatic changes and lack of food forced people to seek new lands.
Where do you come from?
Migrants and refugees talk about their experiences in video interviews. Why did they come to Germany? Why did they leave their home country? How have they been received by German society? And what are the experiences of the children and grandchildren of migrants that came here two or three generations ago?
Migration for kids
The show's organizers made an effort to reach out to children by trying to present the issue of migration in a child-friendly fashion. "In our society, children in kindergartens and schools play an important role in the integration process on a daily basis," noted museum director Weniger in an interview with DW.