For over 100 years, finds from prehistoric and early historic times have been collected in Sangerhausen and the surrounding area, initially by the Verein für Geschichte von Sangerhausen und Umgegend. Gustav Adolf Spengler was an accomplished amateur archaeologist who also carried out small excavations when finds were discovered in fields or building sites.
Numerous are the finds from the Neolithic Age (ca. 5000 - 1800 BC), the Bronze Age (ca. 1800 - 700 BC) and the Iron Age (700 BC to 0). In the Neolithic Age, farming and animal husbandry were already known. There is also evidence of house building, pottery, spinning and weaving. Materials were wood, bone and stone. The cult of the dead was important, as evidenced by the burial chamber on the Schanzenhügel hill near Bennungen and the double grave at Mittelhausen.
Metallurgy developed with the material bronze. The "princely grave" at Nienstedt is an example of the beginnings of social differentiation in the early Bronze Age. Finds from the "thieves' cave" near Uftrungen also belong to this period.
Indications of iron smelting are given by finds from iron smelting sites near Emseloh, Beyernaumburg and Einzingen. Iron and bronze grave goods from the urn burial grounds near Brücken (50 BC - AD 50) and Bennungen (3rd century) are on display. In Sangerhausen, the grave of a man from the Migration Period (5th/6th century) was found, armed with sword, lance and shield.