The Department of Anthropology was founded in 1889 as the "Anthropologische Staatssammlung Muenchen" (i.e. the Anthropological State Collection in Munich). In 1999 this Anthropological State Collection took over the extraordinarily valuable palaeoanatomical collection of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. As a consequence the new State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy was founded on August 1st, 2000, with the Department of Anthropology and the new Department of Palaeoanatomy.

The Department of Anthropology is closely connected to the Anthropological Institute at the University and is the oldest such institution in Germany. It houses more than 25 000 individual skeletal finds from the Upper Palaeolithic until Late Medieval times, mainly from the Bavarian area. Two scientists and two technicians employed at the collection can hardly cope with the whole lot of scientific work since Southern Germany has been populated continuously since the Palaeolithic. Recently excavated human skeletal finds are still numerous. Human skeletal remains, especially when investigated at the population level, constitute a very valuable historical source for human evolution and the detection of population dynamics. Moreover, the inspection of ancient bones and teeth at the molecular level is of outstanding importance for the understanding of man/environment-interactions with manifold implications for environmental medicine and population genetics. The skeletal finds housed at the State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy offer a unique research potential since they cover a time span of several thousand years from a restricted geographical area.

In addition, the Department of Anthropology is responsible for a primate collection of equal scientific value, consisting of a taxonomic collection of skeletons and furs from mostly free-ranging primates captured before the year 1914. The primatological section of the State Collection is housed at the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich. Guest researchers are welcome to visit our institution. Permission for the application of invasive methods is given after detailed consideration of the research program. The State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy requests a copy of every publication based on its research material.

Collection

>25 000 human skeletal individuals including cremated material. Of special interest are the finds from Neu-Essing (Upper Palaeolithic), Olduvai Hominid I (Upper Palaeolithic), the Ofnet Cave (Mesolithic) and numerous neolithic finds, e.g. close to a hundred individuals from the Bell Beaker period.

Among the primates, the collections by Haberer (Macaca fuscata), Bruegel (e.g. Hylobates concolor), and Selenca (Pongo satyrus) are especially suitable for population studies. A complete inventory of the primate material is available on the internet. It is based on a reexamination of the material made in 2000 and 2001. Please follow the links to "Neuaufnahme Crania 2000 und Skelete 2001 / Reinventory Crania 2000 and Skeletons 2001 (Part 1 - Prosimiae; Part 2a - Simiae/Platyrrhina; Part 2b - Simiae/Catarrhina)". A previous inventory completed in 1948, which was online here until now, has been set offline. If you still need information out of it, please contact the webmaster. Thank you.

Periodical

Documenta Archaeobiologiae is the yearbook of the Bavarian State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy. Further information can be found here.

Library

ca. 5 000 books, ca 50 periodicals

Research topics

Human finds:

Central European prehistory with a focus on Southern Germany, both by morphological and archaeometric methods. Scientific co-operation with the Institut fuer Anthropologie und Humangenetik in Munich permits trace element and stable isotope analysis of bone mineral and bone collagen, e.g. aiming at the reconstruction of subsistence, migration, and man/environment-relationships. Other bone proteins than collagen are also studied in detail, and a laboratory for DNA analyses is currently established. All archaeometric approaches are accompanied by substantial research on bone decomposition.

Primates:

Morphology, systematics, population biology.

Exhibition

The permanent exhibition on human evolution is integrated into the Palaeontologisches Museum Muenchen (Museum of Palaeontology in Munich).
 

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Last update: 12.01.2006