Introduction "The Prehistory of Taiwan"

Taiwan is a land that has seen frequent migration of tribes since the prehistoric period. For thousands of years, Taiwan continually attracted immigrants from various areas. The immigrants settled down and introduced cultures from their homelands; through communication with other immigrant groups, a range of prehistoric cultures was developed. There are over one thousand known prehistoric sites found in Taiwan up to the present, and they are generally categorized into fourteen prehistoric cultures. The time span includes the end of the Paleolithic Age, Neolithic Age and Iron Age, which lasted for fifteen thousand years. Their stories formulated "The Prehistory of Taiwan".

For the first stage in the exhibition route, the theme is somewhere between "The Natural History of Taiwan" and "The Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan". The time span ranges from the earliest humans and cultures in Taiwan to approximately 400 years ago, when Taiwan entered the era of recorded history.

The background of this exhibition hall was structured with the concepts of time and space in mind. In the seven exhibition rooms that surround the atrium, Taiwan is separated into a number of regions and shows the prehistoric human activities of those region that have had a significant impact on Taiwan's history.

There are one or two "scenes" placed in the middle of each exhibition room to reconstruct prehistoric human events according to their given themes in the exhibition room. Surrounding the room are prehistoric artifacts and signs. There are eight themes presented in the seven exhibition rooms, and they are arranged in an anti-clockwise fashion. Apart from the exhibition rooms categorized by periods and themes, there are also illustrations of prehistoric sites found in Taiwan and the relevant cultures in the corridor outside the exhibition rooms. Here, visitors can gain a basic understanding of Taiwan's prehistoric cultures.