LEIDEN.- Above ground features the most remarkable and high-profile discoveries in 25 years of Dutch archaeology (2000-2025), including special finds from all over the country, from Maastricht to Texel. The exhibition presents more than five hundred objects, originating from around two hundred sites. The objects were literally brought ‘above ground’ during excavations, and each stands out for its significance and value. All of the Dutch provinces are represented, including the Caribbean ABCSSS islands. The exhibition also features all kinds of excavators, from government agencies to detectorists and volunteers.

Every find has its own value

Every find and object in the exhibition has its own special value. It might be a particularly beautiful object, an object that is unique in its kind, or an object that was made in a special way. Sometimes an object’s finding-place is special, too: what is a Japanese plate doing in a cesspool? Why are there lion bones at the Binnenhof in The Hague, or an orca bone in the moat of a castle? And what special information can we glean from a seventeenth-century shipwreck? Other objects evoke emotions, some because they are associated with painful historical periods, such as the Second World War. This is true of personal belongings from Camp Westerbork and the Caribbean, for example, while a love ring symbolises love and tenderness.

From the oldest chair to the latest technology

Archaeological finds thus represent different values. Newsworthiness often plays a key role, too: which objects make the papers or the TV news? The answer is usually the most ancient or unique objects: the oldest chair, a treasure map or a telescope. Recent technologies also feature in Above ground. When combined with other scientific disciplines, this can lead to spectacular new insights about a find. The exhibition also covers the excavations themselves, objects with a particular historical value (such as wreck-finds or coins), and objects found using a metal detector.

Research, knowledge and insights

Archaeologists study the past, but they live in the present. Why is an archaeological find important or significant in our society? What does it contribute to our knowledge about the past? For this reason, Above ground is also about research, knowledge, new perspectives and personal involvement. Partly thanks to new insights about identity, gender and status differences, we now have a new understanding of burial gifts, and DNA research has produced unexpected data.