Rundgang Durch Die Landesausstellung Die Wüste
A Tour through the State exhibition „The Desert“
Introduction
The deserts owe their great attraction to the aesthetic beauty of their dune landscapes. Pictures that seem to show nothing but dried out barrenness have a rather repulsive effect. It is these and similar impressions that form the prevalent image of the deserts. But they are not entirely true. The deserts are neither completely barren, nor are they lacking life. In all deserts there are plants, animals and people living and their landscapes belong to the most impressive on earth.
The “caravansery” in front of the Lokschuppen is built as an imitation of the rest-houses offering protection along the „silkroad“ and introduces the theme of the exhibition.
History to be found in the Desert
At the entrance to the exhibition the succulent green of a forest landscape, which covered the Sahara some 12.000 years ago, surprises the visitor. A piece of petrified wood from the Cairo forest indicates the earlier existence of a wooded landscape. Into the room reaches a ten meter cast of a fishsaur. It is the biggest intact skeleton of a Mosasaur that has ever been found in the Sahara. These finds prove that the Sahara, the biggest desert of the world today, was once part of a fertile climatic zone. As a consequence of – natural – climatic changes the dry, African desert landscape, as we know it today, developed over thousands of years. The difference between an arid and a humid climatic zone – which Rosenheim falls under – is demonstrated by the different amounts of precipitation and evaporation.
In the following room the causal connections between the history of earth and climatic changes, especially desertification are addressed in even more detail. The desert presents itself here like an open history book, that is there to be read.
The reproduction of a desert scene depicts different desert variations and shows a 25 meter-long dune- and rock-landscape that ends at bizarre rock formations.
For desert does not consist of sand alone. There are also gravel-, rock-, dust- and salt deserts, of which the origin and special characteristics are explained from the geological point of view. Special finds are meteorites, desert glass and fossil rain, which illustrate special geological processes in the desert.
The climatic change is also being explained by palaeontology with sea-deposits, the springhare (parapedetes) still living in the desert Namib today, and an old crocodile scull some 58 million years old. They, too, tell about a diversity of species and a high water supply at times – for example in the Sahara.
Human traces from the past like broken bowl pieces, stone tools, bones or leftovers from plants are found easily in the desert. Differently to our landscapes, they lie – marked by the steady erosive power of the wind - freely accessible on the surface.
This is how the earlier fertile and inhabited environment desert stands against the extreme dryenvironment of today.
The first impressions given by the reconstructed desert scene are parching heat, merciless drought and hostility. But that might be deceiving. Many plants and animals have intelligently mastered the massive climatic changes.
The “Rose of Jerico” – the “real one” by the way – can be found within the scene. Snails fall into a “drought sleep” to survive several months of dryness, the darkling beetle escapes with a stilt-like run from the surface heat against which the locust protects itself with an armour of chitin.The behaviour of predators and prey can be shown in a food pyramid. These relations prove, that the desert regions that seem so lifeless actually form a precious ecosystem onto which the survival of humanity is based.
One of the most important cultivated plants is the date palm of which the fruits are rich in carbohydrates and minerals. Even the palm fronds and the leave fibres are today still used for making everyday gear like mats, baskets and bags.
The history of settlements in Northern Africa, which is closely connected the climatic history, is depicted in a room of its own. Rock paintings are the first signs of human settlements in the present arid Sahara regions. Bone findings verify domestication and cattle breeding. Also different hunting techniques like the “trap stones”, whose function could be deciphered with the help of rock paintings are introduced. How the clayton-rings were used, however is still a mystery to the archaeologists.
What is also astonishing is the variety of desert sand. Filled into 30 different glass tubes the sands can actually be touched or studied under the magnifying glass.
Water economy
The most valuable resource in the desert is water. Water acquisition and sensible economy with it play are central role in the culture and also in the religion of the people living in the deserts. From the ancient world numerous techniques of human water acquisition are known. The Nazca people, who had been living in Peru, for example, used underground wells (called puquios or quanate) for their water supply, some of which are still in use today. The depiction of water deities on equipment emphasise the importance of water in their culture.
The Pueblo Indians in the north-american Southwest developed their own watering techniques for agriculture and still today celebrate rituals to influence the precipitation positively.
Sinking wells is the most common method in the desert. Benches and a well invite the visitor, to take a rest and to enjoy a sip of flowing water.
Today great efforts are taken to fertilise arid areas. The (nearly 1:1) reconstructed cross-section of a water pipe (with an inside diameter of four meters) visualises the controversially discussed “Man Made River” – Project in Libya, which is with 3.380km length the biggest water-pipe-network in the world.
Here several million cubic meters of fossil groundwater are supposed to flow per day. Critics fear disastrous consequences for the desert ecosystem.
Also the “Toshca Project” in Egypt is disputable. The world’s biggest pumping station can transport 30 million cubic meters of Nile water a day from the Assuan Lake onto the desert plains, in order to enable agriculture in one of the most arid regions in the world.
The UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) declares historical deserts to be habitats and cultural sites that ought to be preserved. But the growth of areas bordering the desert can lead to drought- and hunger catastrophes and even to wars over water. The UN – Organisation has made it their task to prevent this. It supports and co-ordinates together with the BMZ (“Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit” – the ministry for economic co-operation), the GTZ (“Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit” – society for technical co-operation) and numerous local NGOs (Non – Government Organisations) projects and programs, that work against desertification on a long run and secure a lasting water management.
Artists of Survival
Despite the extreme heat and the low water supply animals and plants have developed fascinating strategies of survival. Chosen live plants like succulents, agave and aloe among others, are exhibited in a glass case. The survival principles of the “living stones” are little surface and protection against evaporation.
In the desert the temperature can rise up to 57° C close to the surface. Although the most animals can survive maximum 42° C, there are many specialised kinds. The way a darkling beetle, for example, secures his survival by catching dew is explained on a monitor in exciting sequences. Especially this behaviour provoked the people, who live in mountain deserts close to the coast, to build so called “mist nets” as an imitation. In the interactive room at the end of the exhibition, the visitors can try out for themselves how effective this technique of water acquisition is.
Desert people
The desert demands a high adaptability from its people. Many peoples have developed complex economic and social systems over generations, to enable them to survive in the desert. Unfortunately the foundations of their livelihood get destroyed more and more. The staging shows the original state next to the often sad picture of today.
The exhibition displays traditional tools and utensils of the Aboriginal people of Australia, like shields, digging sticks or boomerang. These explain the outlook on life (Dreaming) and the eating habits (Bushfood) of the Aboriginal people. A hut, made of corrugated iron, makes it plain what their large-spread reality of everyday life looks like today.
The Bushmen / San live in the Kalahari, in south-western Africa. These people have no concept of materialism. Most important is the knowledge of how to find water in a desert, for example with the help of a baboon.
The Tuareg with their legendary salt caravans are the most famous nomad people of the Sahara. Their main sources of income are trade and stock-breeding. The indigo-blue veil covering the face, is only worn by men as an expression of their male dignity.
Saddles, clothing, weapons and silver adornments – which are said to have amulet effects – show a special culture, that has created for itself under extreme climatic conditions a worthy existence, that is being threatened today.
Through the Asian deserts reaches the “silkroad”. Luxury goods, but also religious beliefs were transported along this famous trade route.
The Desert – within your reach
The „interactive“ room offers everyone eager for knowledge more information about the different kinds of deserts, watering techniques and survival strategies. An interactive camel explains not only to children how the fascinating organism of the “ship of the desert” works, without whom men could not survive in the desert. Deeper knowledge about 16 deserts of the earth is offered by the interactive globe, that has especially been built for this exhibition.
Desert impressions
The last room offers a relaxing end to the journey. A multimedia-show – a simultaneous projection onto three screens – gives a very individual picture of the atmosphere of the desert. The visitors are invited, to sit down on the chairs of a typical Moroccan coffee house in front of Mauritanian Architecture and to absorb the impressions of the exhibition while having a cup of mint tea.
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