Standing dead center of the cavernous white-walled room is a naked figure striking a flaunting pose, limbs and head loped off, skin smooth marble polished to a gleam. When once he stood complete in the courtyard of a wealthy merchant or politician, he now stands in full view to the public behind the closed doors of the Archaeological Museum of Seville. He is not alone for several more such statues and works of art from the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian have been shifted to the museum, one of the premier collections of history in Spain. In fact, this could be the most important collection of archaeological finds in the country. Be prepared to be enraptured by the story spun by the museum of a time before the land was known as Andalusia, during the Neolithic age when stone implements were used to hunt and we as a species lived a nomadic life. Walking through the corridors of artifacts recovered from the excavation site of the Roman city Italica just beyond Seville’s borders, you stand witness to the birth and growth of a civilization. The story doesn’t end there as it progresses to the Arabic invasion and take over by the Moors. Throughout this time, it’s possible to find other influences as well acquired through trade. Brought across oceanic borders on Oriental merchant ships, you can piece together how societies mixed in the past.

If there’s one thing the archaeological museum of Seville proves, it is that archaeology is so much more than just dried bones but the living, morphing story of a people.