A new permenent exhibition available at the National Museum in Szczecin. It presents nearly 14 millennia of cultural history in the Pomeranian lands, covering the times from the late Ice Age to the first centuries of the Duchy of Pomerania.

The exposition features over 1,000 artifacts from the rich archaeological collections gathered in Szczecin since the first half of the 19^thcentury. They are presented in chronological order, starting with Stone Age artifacts (room one), through monuments from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age to the end of antiquity (room two) and ending with mediaeval artifacts (rooms three and four). At the same time, they show several dozen successive, often overlapping cultural, social and economic phenomena.

The oldest of the exhibited archaeological finds come from the 13^th millennium BC. They are remains of the material and spiritual culture of hunter-gatherer communities that used the goods of the surrounding nature. Successive groups of specialized hunters and gatherers of the Stone Age dominated Pomerania for several thousand years.

In the second half of the 6^th millennium BC, the first farmers reached the lower Oder river. The monuments presented at the exhibition illustrate the fundamental changes in the ways of exploiting environmental resources, as well as in the production and life of the people living in Pomerania over the next three millennia. The widespread manufacturing economy and technological innovations as well as socio-cultural changes are referred to as the Neolithic Revolution.

At the end of the 3^rd millennium BC, the Pomeranian lands found themselves in the sphere of influence of the Bronze Age civilization. The exhibits – treasures, grave finds, household products from settlements –bring various aspects of everyday life closer, testify to contacts with remote areas and the beliefs of communities inhabiting this region for almost two thousand years, until the appearance of the first exclusive items made of iron.

In the second half of the first millennium BC, iron became the basic material used for the production of weapons and tools. The communities inhabiting Pomerania at that time were developing, their culture was changing and it was influenced by contacts with the Celtic civilization and the Roman Empire, from where, in the first century AD, items made in local workshops began to flow in. In the 4^th century, there was a disappearance of cultural groups in Pomerania and the settlement was clearly thinned out. At the end of antiquity, small groups of people from Scandinavia arrived here. The exhibits presented at the exhibition show the funeral rite, characteristic ceramics, armaments, ornaments and tools representing particular archaeological cultures, as well as Roman and Byzantine imports.

Between the 6^th and 8^th centuries, characteristic elements of Slavic culture appeared in the Pomeranian lands. In the late 8^th and early 9^th century, centres of crafts and trade were established in the mouths of the rivers, bringing together ethnically diverse people, who followed different religions. Significant changes took place in the first half of the 12^th century with the introduction of a new religion: Christianity. The previous oligarchic system – the rule of magnates and priests – was replaced by a castellan organization. A new stage in the history of the region began, ending the early mediaeval period and leading to the formation of chartered towns.

The Dawn of Pomerania. The Collection of Pomeranian Antiquities

Curator:
Krzysztof Kowalski

Concept Team:
Michał Adamczyk, Grzegorz Durdyń, Ewa Górkiewicz‑Bucka, Anna B. Kowalska, Krzysztof Kowalski, Dorota Kozłowska, Bartłomiej Rogalski, Sławomir Słowiński

Exhibition design:
Krzysztof Kowalski, Anna Ryś, Izabela Sukiennicka

Visual identity:
Waldemar Wojciechowski

Multimedia:
Michał Adamczyk, Dorota Kozłowska, Bartłomiej Rogalski, Ewa Górkiewicz-Bucka, Anna B. Kowalska, Grzegorz Durdyń, Sławomir Słowiński, Koma Nord

Exhibit conservation and maintenance:
Anna Borowiec, Krystyna Lewkowicz, Anna Szczucińska

Exhibition organizers:
Michał Adamczyk, Grzegorz Czajka, Grzegorz Durdyń, Robert Gągorowski, Ewa Górkiewicz-Bucka, Bartosz Grądek, Wiesława Holicka, Anna B. Kowalska, Krzysztof Kowalski, Dorota Kozłowska, Andrzej Kulpa, Jarosław Napierski, Ryszard Plota, Bartłomiej Rogalski, Anna Ryś, Sławomir Słowiński, Mirosław Słupny, Izabela Sukiennicka, Dominik Wałdoch

The exhibition was created as part of the “Common Heritage, Common Future. Central Pomeranian Museums Presenting the History and Culture of Pomerania” project co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the Interreg V-A – Germany/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern-Brandenburg-Poland cooperation programme, as well as from the funds of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Honorary patronage:

• Marshal of West-Pomeranian Voivodeship Olgierd Geblewicz
• Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Manuela Schwesig.