The Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was founded in 1953 on the initiative of Prof. Carlo Maxia (Rome 1907- Sassari 1996) then Extraordinary at the University of Cagliari who managed to obtain the funds to raise the Normal Human Anatomy building, located in Via Porcell. After sharing premises with the Anthropological Sciences Section for 45 years, the Museum has been moved to its new location at the University Citadel in Monserrato, which is about 3000sqm divided into several rooms. The museum was created with the dual purpose of collecting anthropological material illustrating the physical characteristics of Sardinians from protohistory to present times and to preserve a cultural heritage that is increasingly unavailable today. Housed inside are different types of collections: human skeletal artifacts dated from the Neolithic through the Eneolithic, Nuragic, Roman Longobard, Medieval to modern; pathological skeletal artifacts; Sardinian costumes; objects of use from different historical periods: mortars, baskets, cork vessels terracotta, obsidian tips, hoes and Nuragic mallets; a collection of votive offerings; and two mummies. Publications and photographic material related to the collections housed can be viewed inside the museum. Since 1993, the museum has been part of C.I.M.A.S., which brings together the museums of the University of Cagliari.
