The Human Osteological Collection of Vilnius University

Abstract

This article briefly presents the history of the human osteological collection stored at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. The birth of such collection can be traced back to the mid-19th century (1855) with the establishment of the Museum of Antiquities. Until the mid-20th century, human skeletal remains were gathered sporadically and selectively, by collecting either skulls or long bones. Since the late 20th century, the policy of selection has changed and nowadays the collection consists of systematically assembled anthropological material of scientific value. The assemblage currently comprises more than 9.000 skeletal remains dating back from the Mesolithic to the Late Modern Era.

Zooarchaeology in Lithuania

“…The first faunal remains likely associated with the humans who lived in the past were excavated or found by amateur archaeologists and kept in the Museum of Antiquities (for more see Kozakaitė et al, 2020). Several animal bones and teeth from the Museum of Antiquities are still stored in the collection of the National Museum of Lithuania (NML).…”

“…In this article just the zooarchaeological parts of the collection is discussed. The history and state of the anthropological collection are the subject of another paper in this publication (Kozakaitė et al, 2020).…”