The Invention of the Gods - Landesmuseum Hannover

stone age in the north

1.4. to 31.10.2022

The course for our modern life was set in the Stone Age - with the most important invention of mankind: agriculture. But it was only when they were embedded in a new religion that the new way of life with fields, cattle breeding and places of worship took the place of the eternal hunting grounds in the north.

Agriculture - a revolutionary idea

More than 12.000 years ago, humans laid the foundation for today's world: They turned away from the nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherers and became sedentary farmers. For the first time he domesticated animals, cultivated plants and built houses. This change created the conditions for technical innovations and thus also the modern life of people today.

Sacred landscapes - how a new religion arose

The peasant way of life brought with it a completely changed relationship to nature: Humans intervened more in the landscape through clearing and agriculture and at the same time were more dependent on the weather and climate. Both had to be translated into a suitable ideology: a new religion emerged. At its center were almighty beings whose worship should guarantee that food would not be lacking in the next year either.

Brave New World - Stone Age Parallel Societies

Agriculture caused a huge increase in population and the resulting migration movements. The first farmers came to what is now Lower Saxony around 7.500 years ago. With their completely new way of life, they met with rejection from the "natives" living there as hunters and gatherers. Because agriculture not only brought advantages: It also meant more work, illness, less freedom and greater dependence on the forces of nature. This created a unique contact zone between Harz and Heide, in which two completely different societies met and developed in parallel. Trade and marriage eventually brought the two groups closer, a process that took 1.500 years.

Vanished Worlds –
what archaeological finds tell us

In cooperation with the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and national and international partners, the Landesmuseum Hannover is presenting the rapprochement between "long-established" nomads and "immigrant" settlers as a complex, often conflict-ridden process in all its facets. Unique archaeological finds from Lower Saxony and northern Europe, some of which have never been shown before, bring vanished cultures back to life.