A journey through time to the origins of mankind

The exhibition “Planet Africa. An Archaeological Journey Through Time” traces the origins of mankind. The exhibition can be seen on two continents and is funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Museums in Berlin. It is a cooperative venture involving numerous German and African researchers at institutions such as the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Cologne and the University of Ghana. Wazi Apoh, one of the curators, is a professor of archaeology at the University of Ghana. 

Professor Apoh, what can visitors to the Planet Africa exhibition expect?

Our exhibition takes visitors on a fascinating journey through time that begins four million years ago. We shed light on the history of human development in Africa and its spread from there to the rest of the world. It is a widespread misconception that Africa was not civilised until the Europeans arrived. This is just as wrong as stereotypes that reduce Africa to famine, war and disease. In fact Africa is a continent of great diversity, 54 countries, numerous languages and several ethnic groups – and many cultural innovations. Planet Africa is an intercontinental collaboration to provide visitors with archaeological knowledge and educate them about human and cultural evolution in Africa.

How do you make your topics engaging and accessible for your audience?

We pursue a multidimensional approach that combines texts with short documentary films, photographs, historical written sources and archaeological finds. These finds reveal a lot about how we have repeatedly adapted to the environment and survived despite climatic changes. We have also asked artists from Africa to illustrate certain topics, such as the development from stone to metal tools.

Where can the exhibition be seen? And what special features are there at the different venues?

It is being shown on two continents: in Europe and in Africa. In Germany, it can be seen until 27 April 2025 at the James-Simon-Galerie in Berlin, and in mid-May it will be shown at the Archaeological State Collection in Munich. Planet Africa can be seen at the Nairobi National Museum in Kenya until the end of May. In Africa, it will be opening in three more countries this year, namely Ghana, Eswatini and Mozambique. Further locations are being planned. Notably, the exhibition is not the same everywhere. One topic, for example, is the domestication of animals. In Berlin or Munich, the artefacts come from the collections of the museums there. In Ghana, we are showing the remains of animals that we have excavated here. The exhibition can be seen in the Museum of Archaeology at my university and is primarily aimed at students. They learn about their roots and Ghanaian culture through the artefacts from their environment. 

How did you come to be part of the exhibition team and what are you aiming to achieve?

For about 20 years I have been researching the archaeology of Germancolonialism in Togoland, part of which is now made up of the Volta and Oti Regions of Ghana and part in the Republic of Togo. My work is about excavating these German colonial sites from the period between the 1880 and 1914; and the German mission sites, which are even older. I have repeatedly pointed out that the Germans seem to have forgotten their colonial past in Togoland. However, the German Archaeological Institute, of which I am now a Corresponding Member, recognised the need to revisit it. So it turned to me as an expert in this field and began to look the architectural remains of German colonialism in Ghana. We are now working on this together in our Volta-German Shared Colonial Heritage Project. The exhibition is another outcome of our collaboration where it was important for me to bring an African voice into the discussions so as to deepen our understanding of this historical period.

What advantages do you see in German-African cooperation in archaeology, especially when it comes to the reappraisal of colonial history?

The more we work together to revisit Germany's colonial past, the better. Because it's about our shared heritage. The colonial buildings, for example, were not only built by Germans, local materials, local knowledge and local labour were used. By studying this architecture, German researchers and students learn about the culture of the people their ancestors interacted with in the past. And they learn something about their own past. With this research, we are contributing to a better understanding of our multicultural world.