Our objects and specimens from the Palaeolithic era (the Early Stone Age) come from sites in the Meuse basin and Hainaut (Belgium) and Semliki (Democratic Republic of the Congo). A tooth found in Ishango (DRC) is the oldest known human fossil, at between 2.5 and 2 million years old, and belonged to an early species of human. It was also the first fossil of the ‘Homo’ taxon to be found west of the Rift Valley.

The majority of the Belgian Neanderthal fossils also belong to this collection: the Neanderthals from Spy, La Naulette, Fond-de-Fôret, and Goyet – in total more than 200 fossils. We also have the remains of anatomically modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic, from both Belgium and Ishango. The latter constitute the largest collection of fossils of anatomically modern humans from the Late Stone Age in Central Africa. During excavations undertaken by our institute, tens of thousands of artefacts were found from the different cultures of the Middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) and Upper Palaeolothic eras (Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Magdalenian) in Belgium, as well as from the Late Stone Age in Central Africa. There are also several pieces of artwork from the Upper Palaeolithic period, including portable art, jewellery, and mysterious objects.