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26.03.2024 14:00

Large exhibition on the Bronze Age in Alicante shows archaeological treasures from the State Museum of Prehistory Halle

Dr. Oliver Dietrich Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte

The State Museum of Prehistory Halle (Saale) not only regularly presents exhibitions with top-class loans, such as the current show “Magic – Forcing Fate”, objects from the State Museum's collection are also in demand abroad - hardly any exhibition on the European Bronze Age can do without finds from Saxony-Anhalt. On March 26, 2024, the largest exhibition to date on the Early Bronze Age on the Iberian Peninsula started at the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante (MARQ) in Spain - with numerous loans from Halle and with the active participation of scientists from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt.

The Bronze Age - an international era

The Bronze Age is the first international period of European prehistory. While copper could be found in many places, tin, the other main component of bronze, is only present in a few regions of Europe. From the Early Bronze Age onwards, the need for raw materials led to the establishment of supra-regional trade networks. Control over ore deposits, other sought-after materials and transport routes were important factors in the development of social inequality, a ruling elite and war. Last but not least, the sword was invented in this era, a weapon that is meant exclusively to kill people.

In Central Europe, the Early Bronze Age is the period of the Únĕtice Culture, which includes the richly furnished monumental princely burial mounds of Leubingen and Helmsdorf as well as the Bornhöck, which has been intensively studied in recent years. The Nebra Sky Disk, which encoded astronomical knowledge that could be used to create calendars, marks the elites of the Únĕtice Culture as powerful masters of time. Their power was secured by armies, whose weapons can be found in the large axe hoards from the Early Bronze Age.

At the same time, other early centers of power emerged with the El Argar Culture on the Iberian Peninsula and the Otomani-Füzesabony Culture in the Carpathian Basin. The exhibition ›Dinastías Los primeros reinos de la Europa prehistórica‹ (Dynasties. The first kingdoms in prehistoric Europe) is dedicated to these phenomena, their connections and specific manifestations from a europe-wide comparative perspective. The exhibition will be shown from March 26th to October 13th, 2024 in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante (MARQ), Alicante, Spain. The show was created in close cooperation with the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale). After the last major shows at the British Museum in London and the Drents Museum Assen, numerous top-class finds from Central Germany will once again delight an international audience. Scientists from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt also played a key role in the extensive scientific publication accompanying the exhibition.

A sword from the hoard of the Nebra Sky Disk as a highlight

The highlight among the loans is one of the swords from the hoard with the Nebra Sky Disk. Since the Sky Disk was first presented in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale) in 2002, it has become not only the flagship of the museum, but also a unique cultural landmark for the state of Saxony-Anhalt and for German archeology. In 2013, it was included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. In addition to the original sword, a copy of the Sky Disk and a copy of the second sword from the hoard will also be on display in Alicante.

Another highlight of the exhibition are the grave offerings from the princely grave of Leubingen. Excavated in 1877 by the Jena professor Friedrich Klopfleisch on behalf of the Historical Commission of the Province of Saxony, the large grave mound located in today’s Thuringia represents one of the most impressive burial ensembles of the Central European Early Bronze Age. In the mound there was a tent-shaped grave chamber made of oak beams under a 2.5 m thick stone layer. An elderly man was buried in a stretched-out supine position on the floor of the hut, which was carefully laid out with stones and wooden floorboards. The grave inventory consisted of a large ceramic vessel, a Neolithic shoe last axe made of serpentine, an anvil stone, three daggers, a halberd, two axes and three chisels made of bronze, as well as gold jewelry: two eyelet head pins, two hair rings, a spiral and an arm ring. These finds, along with other loans, can now be seen in Alicante.

The State Museum of Prehistory Halle (Saale)- Ambassador of Saxony-Anhalt to the world

The State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale) has earned a great reputation through its outstanding objects, its elaborately staged exhibitions and, last but not least, its commitment to national and international exchange with colleagues. This is reflected directly in the great trust that other institutions place in the State Museum when lending valuable and unique finds. Most recently, between June 4, 2021 and January 9, 2022, as part of the state exhibition 'The World of the Nebra Sky Disk - New Horizons', 400 high-ranking exhibits and groups of exhibits, some of which have never been shown in Germany, from 50 lenders from 14 countries thrilled 60,000 visitors in Halle. The current special exhibition “Magic – Forcing Fate” also features high-quality loans from 44 institutions from seven countries (further information at https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/temporary-exhibitions/magic-forcing...).

Loans from the State Museum are also in high demand for large national and international exhibition projects. Particularly on the European Bronze Age, there has not been a major exhibition in recent decades that did not involve loans from Saxony-Anhalt. The London exhibition 'The world of Stonehenge' (February 17, 2022 - July 17, 2022) attracted more than a quarter of a million visitors to the British Museum with the Nebra Sky Disk and other high-profile finds from the State Museum, such as the ornate of the shaman of Bad Dürrenberg. The State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale) is therefore an important cultural flagship of Saxony-Anhalt in the world.

The State Museum has been connected to MARQ Alicante for many years through the European Exhibition Network (EEN, www.europeanexhibitionnetwork.eu), which unites a total of ten larger European museums from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Wales, Denmark, Austria, Liechtenstein and Belgium who strive for international collaborations to promote a deeper understanding and shared appreciation of past and present cultures in exhibitions on archaeology, art and history. The mutual support in the frame of large temporary exhibitions in the respective houses underlines this claim.

Further information about the exhibition in Alicante can be found on the MARQ website: https://www.marqalicante.com/dinastias/
The eMuseum Himmelswege (https://www.emuseum-himmelswege.de/), the State Museum´s website (https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/) and the State Museum's extensive film program on YouTube at www.youtube.com/c/LandesmuseumfürVorgeschichteHalle provide further information on the Nebra Sky Disk, the princely grave of Leubingen and the Aunjetitz culture.

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The Nebra hoard.
Juraj Lipták
State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt

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Gold finds and original excavation documentation (1877) from the Leubingen princely grave.
Juraj Lipták
State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt

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