February – the end of March

Exhibition curator: dr Małgorzata Winiarska-Kabacińska

Obsidian played a special role in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican communities. It was used not only as raw material for the manufacturing tools for everyday use (including weapons) but also ornaments and figurines of ritual or magical character (ritual knives). It was a valuable material  and the subject of far-reaching trade exchange. For the past communities of Mesoamerica obsidian was also a symbol of power and prestige. Today obsidian is used as material for manufacturing ornaments, and sought for as a source of positive energy it emanates.

The exhibition  presents the obsidian artefacts from Mexico, which are housed in the collection  of the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, as well as the information about the material (volcanic glass), its origin and the way it was used by Pre-Columbian communities of Mesoamerica, particularly by the Aztecs.

Photo. P. Silska

12 February – 10 April 2010

Exhibition curator: Marta Sierant

In the closing centuries of the fourth century BC major changes occurred in the realm of believes, economy and material culture of the societies inhabiting vast areas of central and eastern Europe. This new system of values, perceptible in archaeological evidence, is referred to as the Globular Amphorae Culture. Its traces have been discovered in the Łaba (the Elbe), Odra (the Oder) and Wisła (the Vistula) rivers, as well as in the western Ukraine and northern Moldova. Compared to the older Neolithic cultures, the Globular Amphorae Culture is characterized by increased mobility. Its representatives inhabited small, relatively short-lived settlements. They practiced farming which involved cultivating various cereal species and raising cattle, pigs, sheep, dogs, and – for the first time in the area of Poland – horses. In addition, they were excellent craftsmen skilled in working bone, antler, amber, and, most of all, flint. Their activity was associated with the main phase of use of the flint mine in Krzemionki Opatowskie.

The representatives of the Globular Amphorae Culture are known for spectacular sepulchral finds. They buried their dead in single or collective, usually richly equipped  graves, often comprising massive stone structures. Characteristically, the funeral ceremonies were accompanied by complex rituals which involved killing practices.

The remains of such ritual-sepulchral complex dating to 2875-2670 BC was discovered in Koszyce (southern Poland) during archaeological excavations in 2011. The multidisciplinary analyses carried out on the finds have brought many interesting results. The grave marked as 523 comprised 15 bodies (women, men and children) accompanied by rich equipment including pottery vessels, amber and bone ornaments, bone implements, boar tusks, flint objects. At a distance of c.a. 2 meters from the grave the researchers discovered another burial, which comprised skeletons of seven pigs accompanied by clay amphora and three fragments of stone polishing plates.

All the skulls from grave 523 bear traces of blows inflicted with various tools, in most cases with a flint axe. The presence of multiple blows implies not only an intention to kill but also to ritually open the heads (probably to gain access to the brains). In addition, the skulls of two women show traces of burning, which may suggest the practice of ritual cannibalism.

It is difficult to answer the question of whether the people from grave 523 (according to MtDNA analysis some of them were members of one family) were the victims of violence used by foreign attackers or whether they were killed, possibly by their kinsmen, for ritual purposes.

Photo M. Przybyła

8 December 2015 – the end of January 2016

Exhibition curators: Alicja Gałęzowska, Patrycja Silska

The silver hoard from Siedlików, which is the theme of this exhibition, was discovered in 1880 near Ostrzeszów in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). Deposited in the fifth century, it comprised hundreds of coins, a silver bar, and jewellery. The assemblage became known not only for the accumulated wealth and unique finds but also its untypical place of deposition in a large pit of a bloomery.

Numerous remains of smelting furnaces were found in this area during the exploitation of slag for iron works located in the city of Chorzów. The abundance of ancient iron in the region attracted interest of antiquarians and local landowners to no lesser extent than the hoard itself. These revelations were published immediately in daily press and scientific literature. Thanks to the nineteenth-century references and archaeological archives we can look again at the find from Siedlików, especially in the context of its protection, the furnace type and the types of the discovered Roman denarii.

The artefacts displayed at the exhibition comprise only a small portion of the hoard. The whole monetary assemblage was lost in unexplained circumstances. We know that it was one of  denarii hoards (found in large numbers in the area of the European Barbaricum) containing the youngest coins issued in the first years of the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211). Descriptions of some of the coins have allowed us to identify several types of denarii and show for the first time what they looked like.

The exhibition displays non-monetary silver elements of the hoard, which are held in the collection of the Archaeological Museum in Poznań. They include: a silver bar (the only find of this kind known from Poland), a massive belt buckle frame typical of the Migration Period, and a pair of large, partially gilded fibulae ornamented with stamp decoration characteristic of the vast areas of Europe in the first half of the fifth century. Interestingly, the hoard contained also a lunula shaped pendant or amulet suspended on a chain, lost in the 19^th century.

The old Roman coins deposited in hoards dating to the Migration Period testify to long-lasting use of denarii issued in the first and the second centuries. They may have been kept or collected by aristocratic families of that time.

Previously researchers thought that hoards were deposited in the ground in unsettled times. Currently, the prevailing hypothesis says that they may have been sacrifices associated with eschatological notions. This view is supported by the presence of jewellery, mostly female (particularly large fibulae) which was essential equipment of graves belonging to Barbarian elites from the Late Antiquity. These sacrifices served presumably to gain the favour of gods and ensure the elites high status and quality of existence in the afterlife.

photo P. Silska

The  exhibitions „Death and Life in Ancient Egypt” and “Archaeology of Sudan” are closed for redecoration until the end of September 2015.

We apologise for the inconvenience and encourage you to visit our other exhibitions.

In September, we invite you to the exhibition entitled “In the Middle Ages by the river”. It presents various aspects of medieval people’s lives, focused in large part in the vicinity of water – rivers, springs and lakes.

People always settled willingly near rivers and lakes, which provided favourable conditions for life. Water was essential for drinking both for human beings and animals, and it was used in all the agricultural activities. Rivers and lakes were the sources of easily accessible food, such as fish and waterfowl. In addition, they facilitated communication between neighbouring settlements or even more remote territories.

The artefacts on display are associated with activities that took place by the water, including washing, fishing, or transport. Some of these items have changed little over centuries, while others are more mysterious to us. All of them, however, are the records of everlasting relationship between rivers and people.

When: 1 September – 31 October 2015

Curators: mgr Magdalena Poklewska-Koziełł, mgr Magdalena Sprenger

Due to Easter Holidays museum will remain closed from 4th until 6th of April 2015.

Due to renovation exhibition “Death and life in Ancient Egypt” will remain temporarily closed from 15th  of August until 6th September 2013. We are really sorry for inconvenience.