The temporary exhibition "ARCHAEOLOGY BEHIND BATTLE LINES. In Thessaloniki during the turbulent years 1912-1922"  took place during the celebrations for the centenary of the city's liberation and was incorporated into the A.M.Th. actions under the "Thessaloniki, Crossroads of cultures" programme of the Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition presents the archaeological endeavours at the time, the beginning of state care for the preservation and promotion of antiquities throughout northern Greece and the struggle of the few Greek archaeologists amid warzones and the presence of the allied armed forces.

Selected artefacts such as funerary stelae, pottery, jewellery, figurines, statues, along with paintings, postcards, mementos and personal items of soldies of World War I, offers glimpses of an era of "heroic" archaeology. For its implementation, the Museum collaborated with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Society for Macedonian Studies, the Archaeological Society at Athens, the British School at Athens, the French School at Athens, the Museum of Macedonian Struggle, the archives of Charis Giakoumis, Έditions Kallimages, Dimitris Mauridis, Alexandre Farnoux, the Imperial War Museum of London, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Vasileios Nikoltsios Collection.  Selected clips from the documentary "The Panorama of the Century" were also on display (directed by Fotos Lambrinos and Leon Loisios, ERT productions).

The exhibition was accompanied by a bilingual catalogue (Greek, English), and an international conference was organised, entitled: "A century of research in Prehistoric Macedonia, 1912-2012", 22-24 November 2012.