114 Items Tagged

Skulls

All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura

Puzzle Monday: Heads Up Crossword

AO Puzzles October 17, 2022

In the Mütter Museum's renovated exhibit, each skull is now labeled first with the name of the individual (if known). Previously, such information was considered secondary to ailments and cause of death.

medical museums

Darwin’s Squeaky Beans and 139 Victorian Skulls: Our Favorite 2021 ‘Secret Lives of Museums’ Stories

Let’s sneak into where museum visitors can’t.

Sarah Durn December 28, 2021

Museo del Alfeñique

This museum tells the history of Day of the Dead sugar sculptures.

According to the Musée de l'Homme in Paris and many historians and forensic experts, this is the skull of French philosopher René Descartes. Swedish researchers disagree.

Was René Descartes a Victim of Skull Blasting?

Centuries after the philosopher’s death, lingering controversy over his remains highlights a macabre practice of profiting from the dead.

Gemma Tarlach October 25, 2021

The gruesome concoctions definitely caused more harm than good.

Europeans Once Drank Distilled Human Skulls as Medicine

"Corpse medicine" created a booming market for craniums, especially mossy ones.

Diana Hubbell October 22, 2021

The Hyrtl Skull Collection isn't just medical history. Scientists continue to study the bones today.

anatomy museums

The Eventful Afterlife of a Crowd of 19th-Century Skulls

Philadelphia’s famed anatomy showplace, the Mütter Museum, gets a facelift.

April White October 18, 2021

Saint-Pol-de-Léon, France

Les Étagères de la Nuit (Shelves of the Night)

Each of these hand-painted wooden boxes, which date to between the 16th and 19th centuries, contains a genuine human skull.

Viewed from overhead, the promontory of Dmanisi includes medieval and Bronze Age ruins, a working monastery, and a small but rich fossil site.

The Carnivore Paradise That Keeps Changing the Story of Human Evolution

New research at Dmanisi continues to challenge what we think we know about our deep past.

Gemma Tarlach April 9, 2021

The top of a Strickland spoon.

The Macabre Mystery of a British Family's Skull-Topped Spoons

The 17th-century artifacts were likely christening gifts.

Sam O'Brien March 8, 2021

The partial skull found in Marcel Loubens Cave is more than 5,000 years old

Solved: The Mystery of a Lonely Human Skull in an Italian Cave

Scientists found answers in a single piece of evidence.

Gemma Tarlach March 5, 2021

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Skull

Castiglione delle Stiviere, Italy

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Skull

The skull of this patron saint is kept in a shrine located in his hometown.

In Naples, Praying With Skulls Is an Ancient Tradition

Displays at the Weaver Dental Museum include a jumble of dentures.

6 Fascinating Medical Marvels in Pennsylvania

50 States of Wonder

Permanently Closed

Berlin, Germany

Wunderkammer Olbricht at me Collectors Room

A remarkable cabinet of curiosities in an art space in the center of Berlin.

Replica of the 12,000-year-old Chimalhuacán Man and the mammoth mural.

Acolman, Mexico

Museum of Tepexpan

A museum built around the site where the most controversial human remains in the country were found.

Interior of the church.

Church of Santa Luciella ai Librai

An unusual "skull with ears" sits in the crypt of this small church tucked away at the end of a narrow alley.

San Michele Arcangelo Hypogeum.

Torre del Greco, Italy

San Michele Arcangelo Hypogeum

The old church, buried by the 1784 Mount Vesuvius eruption, is a remarkably well-preserved place where people now pray for the souls of the dead.

A sketch of the Phrenological Cabinet from a February 1860 edition of the <em>New York Illustrated News</em>.

How Profit and Prejudice Built a Family's Human Skull Collection

Fowler & Wells created a "Phrenological Cabinet" on the racist belief that skulls held secrets about human nature.

Peter Leman October 2, 2019