One of the Museum’s showcases exhibits a sample of the craniological collection, extremely wide-ranging and comprising over a thousand prepared skulls, mainly dating back to the second half of the 19th century.
It is one of the most important existing collections for the number of skulls of individuals whose age and sex are unknown, thus representing reference material of great significance internationally.
In 1913 the collection was enriched thanks to the donation of the Craniological and Phrenological Museum of the Medicine Academy of Turin.
The first Etruscan skull and Italy’s first human “fossil”
The collection of “ancient” skulls, which had originally belonged to the Medicine Academy of Turin, includes valuable specimens for the history of Italian anthropological research. One of them, from Vejo, is the first Etruscan cranium in the world to have become subject of scientific research and publications. Another specimen, discovered near Pavia, in Mezzana Corti, represents the first human “fossil” to be described in Italy, although it turned out to be quite a recent specimen.
