The Miracle of Nature – Anthropology
from 1. 1. 2023
A new exposition entitled Man in Time and Space will be added to the current four expositions (The Story of Life on Earth, The Biodiversity of Slovakia, Earth’s Biodiversity and the Earth’s Jewels) with the common title The Miracle of Nature. Their modern format was created over the past decade and they cover all areas of the natural environment, including animate and inanimate nature. Anthropology is the study of an immensely confident species which has had a huge impact on life around us – humans.
Humans do not differ from other species in terms of biological composition, but in characteristics. We are adaptable, not specialized, which is a great advantage in evolution; humans have vision, foresight and the ability to process a great amount of information. Humans combine biological, social and psychological components in creating a special human characteristic. Homo sapiens sapiens is definitively part of the animal kingdom and is most similar to the order of primates in terms of biological features.
The introductory section of the exposition presents the roots of human origin. Many people will probably be surprised that our species has been gradually developing from the group similar to rodents which lived on earth approximately 60 million years ago. Data on humans and their development can be determined thanks to their osteological remains – bones, which can endure for millions of years. Their evidential value concerning the appearance and way of life of past populations is extraordinary. The exposition provides an overall view of our species and reveals certain characteristics and interesting facts. Other sections of the exposition cover the following topics in detail: Where Are Our Roots? Are We Different? What Can We Discover? Human and His Closest Relatives and Predecessors, Humans and Heredity, Our Ancient Predecessors – Mammoth Hunters, including, Stone in the Hands of Man and Prehistoric Art.
The noteworthy architecture of this exposition created by VEVERKA, s.r.o. (Peter Masár, Dušan Veverka. Jakub Tóth) features modern museum presentation visualizing elements. The texts are composed on several levels for various groups of visitors (ranging from the general public to experts), and are complemented by interactive inputs and items from collections of the SNM – Natural History Museum, the Archeological Museum as well as documentation from archeological research in Slovakia and abroad.
The exposition was designed by Alena Šefčáková, curator of the anthropological collections of the SNM – Natural History Museum, while Milan Thurzo, Peter Klepsatel, Miloš Gregor and Dušan Magdolen participated in individual units as co-designers.
