Exhibition in Vienna: "War. On the Trails of Evolution" / "Krieg. Auf den Spuren einer Evolution" (Wien)

How old is "war"?

100 years after the end of the First World War and 400 years after the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the exhibition "War. On the Trails of Evolution" at the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) uses archaeological and anthropological research to document the development of armed conflicts and some of the most brutal battles in human history.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the State Museum of Prehistory in Saxony-Anhalt. It shows that "the earliest conflicts between humans in the Stone Age could have been the precursors of war", says Christian Köberl, General Director of the NHM.

Still growing field of research

Smashed skulls discovered on Europe's oldest battlefield in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 1200 B.C. prove how wooden clubs had a devastating effect in regional battles. Over the past two decades, the archaeological investigation of war has become a rapidly growing field of research: Battlefields and fortifications were excavated, mass graves found, countless skeletons with battle scars examined, historical texts and pictorial representations of war analysed.

The exhibition draws on these findings when it shows how original hunting or agricultural tools were transformed into weapons, how duels degenerated into battles or how the mythical war hero turned into cannon fodder. "The point is to use archaeology and anthropology to gain information about past wars and the fate of their victims," explains Köberl. The exhibition also confronts visitors with the present, for example with the Global Peace Index, which documents the peaceableness of nations.

More than 6000 dead in six hours

The horrors and traumas of war are particularly evident in the example of a mass grave dating from 1632, which bears witness to a battle during the Thirty Years' War at Lützen in Saxony: In less than six hours, the forces of Sweden and the Germanies fought against each other. More than 6000 people lost their lives in the fields around the small town between Leipzig and Naumburg. "The focus is above all on people, both active participants and victims and their fates," says Christian Köberl.

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Picture source and more information: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien