The Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
The Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was opened in 1953 thanks to the efforts of Prof. Carlo Maxia. At that time, he was Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cagliari and, after World War II, he managed to obtain the funds needed to enlarge the building that hosted the Institute of Human Anatomy.
After 45 years in the building that also housed the Section of Anthropological Studies, the Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was moved to a new venue in the city campus, the Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato (Cagliari).
Since 1993, the museum has been part of the Interdepartmental Centre for the University Museums and Historical Archives (C.I.M.A.S.), a network for all the university museums in Cagliari.
This museum was created with a twofold objective in mind. On the one hand, it aimed to collect all the anthropological material that could illustrate the main physical features of the Sardinian population, starting from its protohistory to the present day. On the other hand, it sought to preserve that cultural heritage that is progressively being lost. By doing this, the museum hopes to complete a long-pursued project that can bring the biological and cultural features of this people together in a single venue.
Today, the museum can offer its visitors a thorough overview of the way Sardinians developed, their skeletal features, some notions of human anatomy (e.g. the differences in terms of gender and age that can be detected by looking at a skull), as well as the peculiarities of the Sardinian culture from its protohistory to date. Hence, this museum has a fundamentally educational function. It can be seen as the link between laypeople and the scientific community; it offers scientists and all those interested in physical and cultural anthropology the opportunity to study the materials in its holdings.
The Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography hosts several collections:
1) The Anthropology Collection (skeletal finds, mummies, anatomical specimens, casts, etc. ), the number of items in which is estimated as follows:
a- 125 skeletal pieces owned by the museum, amounting to 12,000 finds that have been internally catalogued; 25 skeletal series on loan from the Archaeological Superintendency.
b- 2 mummies, as well as a number of anatomical specimens created in the 19th century.
c- 42 casts of the main specimens regarding human evolution.
2) The Ethnographic Collection (34 traditional costumes, silver jewellery, farming and agricultural objects, 20 musical instruments and 56 ex-votos) comprises all catalogued items in both print and digital formats for internal use.
3) A collection of 13 framed antique prints catalogued in print format for internal use.
4) A collection of over 30 films or fragments of 16mm recordings, which have been already converted into DVD format by the Cineteca Sarda Umanitaria, and thousands of slides that have been digitised and catalogued for internal use.
5) Hundreds of miscellaneous finds including bronze statues, lithic and clay objects relating to Sardinian prehistory and protohistory, as well as foreign ethnographic objects and books.
