For a long time, scientists believed that modern people evolved in a specific "cradle of humankind" in East Africa, some 200,000 years ago.

But more recently, researchers used high-tech methods to date fossil remains found in North Africa, at a site in Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. The skull form they analyzed was not only almost identical to modern humans, but was also found to be between 300,000 and 350,000 years old.

That changed the established consensus that humanity had emerged "in a rapid way in a 'Garden of Eden' somewhere in Africa. Our view is that it was a more gradual development and it involved the whole continent. So if there was a Garden of Eden, it was all of Africa," said professor Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, when the discovery was first published in 2017.

Now this continent that served as humankind's "Garden of Eden" is at the center of a new archaeological exhibition, titled "Planet Africa."

Among its six central themes, the exhibition covers the complex network of family relationships and diverse human life forms that only existed in Africa and evolved across the entire continent.

The six thematic topics — which span from Africa's natural diversity before the emergence of humankind to new perspectives in archaeological research today — form a storyline that "sheds light on more than two million years of human history, coupled with more than 200 years of research tradition," as the exhibition website states.

Presenting such a diverse and long history within a single exhibition is obviously an ambitious goal: "I started by saying that 5 million years of African history cannot be packed into any boxes," Wazi Apoh, co-curator and archaeology professor at the University of Ghana, tells DW.

But there are countless ways to start exploring the history of Africa, he adds: "It can be summarized on one page, maybe half a page. You can do that. And we can write a million books on Africa."

That's why Apoh feels that such an exhibition is important, as it manages to create a simple storyline that puts things in perspective, and opens the door to a new understanding of African culture.

Enough diversity for an entire planet

The initial idea behind the exhibition was to display the key findings of the research conducted by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) in its program, "Entangled Africa."

The title is a tribute to the rich history of the African continent: "There are many projects, programs and exhibitions about Africa; that's why we thought we had to be a little provocative, and maybe stand out with the title. That's where this 'Planet Africa' ​​title came from — a reference to the idea that Africa is simply so big and has such natural cultural diversity that this diversity would be enough for an entire planet," explains Jörg Linstädter of the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures of the German Archaeological Institute, who led the curators' team.

Following its inaugural show at the James-Simon-Galerie in Berlin, where it can be seen until April 27, 2025, "Planet Africa" will tour throughout Germany, with exhibitions in Munich, Chemnitz and other locations in the country.

The show is also presented in parallel at a number of locations across the African continent, including Rabat (Morocco) and Nairobi (Kenya), where shows opened in November 2024, as well as in Maputo (Mozambique), Accra (Ghana) and Lobamba (Eswatini) next year.

When organizers started thinking of ways to allow the exhibition to travel, particularly in the African countries where the research projects are conducted, they "realized relatively quickly that it would be technically difficult to have the exhibition travel in Africa," points out Linstädter. Among other reasons, getting insurance coverage to travel with archaeological objects is extremely complicated, he adds. 

They therefore developed a digital form of the exhibition that could easily be sent all over the world. In each country, local curators are to add objects from their own collections to complement the "Planet Africa" displays. The texts and multimedia content includes work by African street artists who were commissioned to produce illustrations and videos for the different featured topics.

For example, the key visual for the section exploring the theme of human evolution and the importance of Africa as the cradle of humanity was created by Maasai Mbili, an artist collective from Kenya.

Archaeology and colonialism

The exhibition also covers more recent and painful chapters of African history: "You know, archaeology is a colonial discipline," points out Wazi Apoh, who has been leading extensive multidisciplinary research on the German missionization and colonization of Togoland (now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana).

Apoh is also the main partner at the University of Ghana for the "Volta-German Shared Colonial Heritage Project." Through this project, the German Archaeological Institute is building a research network that aims to document, research and preserve traces of German colonization in former Togoland. By turning former colonial sites into memorials, they can serve as educational resources for both the local population and international tourists.

Adapting to climatic fluctuations

Another aspect of the exhibition that Wazi Apoh finds inspiring for today's world is that it also explores how early humans adapted to a changing climate.

One of the research projects funded by the German Research Foundation has centered on the analysis of the sediments in the Chew Bahir Basin in southern Ethiopia. This region was once filled with a large lake, but is now a dried-out salt flat.

The data shows that the region went through dramatic fluctuations in rainfall. The early humans living there were hunters and gatherers, and had to adapt to those climatic changes. Researchers believe that these changing behavioral patterns also significantly promoted the development of anatomically modern humans.

For Apoh, getting to know our archaeological background provides food for thought on essential questions: "Where do we have a shared common humanity? Where did we diverge? How did the environment play a role in our diversification, you know, and how did we adapt in all those respective areas and who are we today? Where do we have barriers? Why do we tend to have racism?" Understanding these issues remains forever relevant, even millions of years after the evolution of humankind.

"Planet Africa" runs until April 27, 2025 at the James Simon Gallery in Berlin. Admission to the exhibition is free.