12 March – 6 May 2013
The exhibition presented in Poznańis a joint enterprise of the Archaeological Museumin Kraków and the Kraków Team for Motorways Research (general partnership). It tells the story of one of the largest research projects in Polish archaeology – excavations preceding construction of motorways and other large-scale road investments inPoland. It highlights one of the stretches of the A-4 motorway connecting Kraków with Tarnów, which runs through some of the most densely populated regions of prehistoricEurope.
The most striking discoveries are presented in a photographic report inviting visitors on a journey along the motorway following archaeological finds. We suggest the visitor lingers longer at some of them and trace their story, from the moment of their excavation, protection and conservation to the final exposition in display cases. The ultimate episode of the story are computer and photographic reconstructions of people, jewellery, weapons as well as graves, dwellings, wells and pottery kilns the way they were used centuries and millennia ago.
The oldest artefacts are nearly 15 000 years old, and the youngest date back to the 19th century. The archaeological excavations shown at the exhibition were carried out by the special team appointed under an agreement between the Archaeology and Ethnology Institute of Polish Academy ofSciences, the Archaeological Museum in Kraków, and the Jagiellonian University. Following contracts concluded with the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, since 1996 the Team has been managing salvage operations along the route of the A-4 motorway in Małopolska voyvodship.
Creators of the exhibition:
Concept, scenario, scientific direction, exhibition curators: Justyna Rodak, Albert Zastawny
Graphic design: Marek Grosse
Texts: Justyna Rodak, Jacek Rydzewski, Albert Zastawny
Computer reconstruction: Łukasz Wójcika
Studio photography: Robert Słaboński, Agnieszka Wojtuń
Poster, invitation and folder design: Marek Grosse; collections: Kraków Team for Motorway Research (general partnership)
Curators for the Archaeological Museum inPoznań: Łukasz Bartkowiak, Dorota Kurowicz
