Treasures

Alongside the river god’s stony face was the perfectly preserved gravestone of a trader by the name of Sextus Haparonius Iustinus, who sold cosmetics and perfumes long before the city became known for its Eau de Cologne.

Germanic smiths copied Roman helmets and later designed their own weaponry, including the Ulfberht swords that became prized by warriors throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.

Fashions came and went, including the habit of binding babies’ skulls so they grew conical heads — a practice documented in what is now Bavaria and the Crimean Peninsula around A.D. 500.

Likewise, the search for elusive formulas for turn- ing mundane materials into gold, represented by the remains of an alchemist’s workshop from the 16th century, hasn’t survived, though the thirst for knowledge and profit lives on in Germany’s high-tech industries.

Some of the objects on display, all of which were found in the past two decades in what is now Ger- many, are still shrouded in mystery. The skull with the arrowhead is part of a massive trove of bones and weapons that archaeologists believe could be the earliest known remains from a large-scale battle in human history.

While another ancient military confrontation — the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 B.C. that pitted the Egyptian and Hittite armies against each other in what is now Syria — has been well documented, no physical evidence of it has yet been found.

About 3,000 miles away in the Tollense valley on the frigid plains of northern Germany, thousands of Bronze Age warriors were also going to battle at almost the same time. So far, nobody knows why, or who they were.

MARKUS SCHREIBER—ASSOCIATED PRESS The Sept. 20, 2018photo shows an archeological exhibition with pieces of the Roman-era displayed at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin. The new exhibition showcasing more than 1,000major archaeological finds from the past 20years shows reveals how Germany has been at the heart of European trade, migration, conflict and innovation since the Stone Age. The exhibition runs from Sept. 21, 2018until Jan. 6, 2019.

MARKUS SCHREIBER—ASSOCIATED PRESS In this Sept. 20, 2018photo the so-called Sky Disc of Nebra, made of bronze and gold, from 1,600BC. is displayed at an archeological exhibition at the MartinGropius-Bau museum in Berlin.

FRANK JORDANS—ASSOCIATED PRESS A woman’s folding chair made from silver, dated to about 450AD, displayed at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.

MARKUS SCHREIBER—ASSOCIATED PRESS The Sept. 20, 2018photo shows the Golden Hat of Schifferstadt, right, with a similar object found in France and another of unknown origin, all from about 1,300BC. displayed at an archeological exhibition at the MartinGropius-Bau museum in Berlin.

FRANK JORDANS—ASSOCIATED PRESS Venus von Hohle Fels, an ivory figurine dating back to between 40,000and 35,000BC, displayed at the MartinGropius-Bau museum in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.

MARKUS SCHREIBER—ASSOCIATED PRESS In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo a River God Mask from Roman-era in Cologne is displayed at an archeological exhibition at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin.