Why go
This is a useful starting point for comparing very different trips. The Neander Valley, Schöningen, and the caves of the Swabian Jura anchor the deep human past, while the Rhine, Elbe, Danube, northern coasts, and Zugspitze explain why landscapes change so sharply across the country.
The full story
Early finds give specific places to an otherwise immense prehistory. The Mauer 1 jaw near Heidelberg records ancient human presence. Wooden hunting weapons discovered at Schöningen show remarkable early craftsmanship. The Neander Valley gave its name to Neanderthals after a fossil discovery there. Caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm have yielded early musical instruments and Ice Age figurative art, including the Lion Man and the Venus of Hohle Fels. The Bronze Age Nebra sky disk adds a later chapter in Saxony-Anhalt. These objects make more sense as discoveries from distinct regions and periods than as a single national origin story. The land itself also changes markedly. Low plains reach the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north; forested uplands occupy much of central Germany; the Alps rise in the south, with the Zugspitze at their edge. The Rhine, Elbe, and Danube cross different regions and have long shaped routes through them. Lake Constance marks part of the southern frontier. A journey from coast to mountains is therefore a change of terrain and climate as well as distance.