4,500 years in 1 minute

As the world changed after farming was introduced, new gods appeared. We have compiled a timeline involving four chronological elements of the Mother Earth exhibition, which gives you a brief overview of the divine journey of cereal grain from the Middle East to our own latitudes.

Timeline

For 250,000 years, we humans moved around as hunter-gatherers, who followed the tracks of the animals. But then something happened which changed everything. It all begins in the region called the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, where people slowly discover the magical powers of the golden grain.

Around 9,000 years ago

Our story begins 9,000 years ago in the Middle East, at a time of unusual fertility. Here, the first farming cultures have emerged, and large farming societies live from cultivating the land. Their gods are fertility goddesses. They help the early farmers make the fields fertile.   

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Around 7,000 years ago

The power of the grain is unleashed. Farming spreads from the Middle East along the rivers up into Eastern Europe. The enormous primeval forests are felled to create space for fields. The world must be shaped by human hands, and the strong bull god symbolises the new worldview. His mighty powers are required to transform the world.

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Around 5,500 years ago

There is little space here in the rainy north. There are more and more people, and small communities fight for the rights to good land. The fear of a failed harvest leads to remarkable actions. People, animals and valuable objects are sacrificed to the gods, and thousands of dolmens are built for the ancestors in an attempt to create order. The struggle to ensure the harvest causes ruptures in society.

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Around 4,500 years ago

At Stonehenge, people gather from near and far on the shortest day of the year. They celebrate the sun god’s journey across the sky. The ceremony begins at the wooden circle of the living and culminates inside the great stone circle – the realm of the ancestors. As the last rays of the sun fall on them, they sing to encourage the coming of spring and feel the connection with their ancestors. This ritual reflects the change in the divine vision – people raise their gaze from the earth and instead look up to find new gods in the sky.