The Etruscan skulls of the Rostock anatomical collection--how do they compare with the skeletal findings of the first thousand years B. C.?
Seven Etruscan skulls were found in Corneto Tarquinia in the years 1881 and 1882 and were given as present to Rostock's anatomical collection in 1882. The origin of the Etruscans who were contemporary with the Celts is not yet clear; according to Herodotus they had emigrated from Lydia in Asia Minor to Italy. To fit the Etruscan skulls into an ethnological grid they were compared with skeletal remains of the first thousand years B.C. E. All skulls were found to be male; their age ranged from 20 to 60 years, with an average age of about thirty. A comparison of the median sagittal outlines of the Etruscan skulls and the contemporary Hallstatt-Celtic skulls from North Bavaria showed that the former were shorter and lower. Maximum skull length, minimum frontal breadth, ear bregma height, bizygomatical breadth and orbital breadth of the Etruscan skulls were statistically significantly less developed compared to Hallstatt-Celtics from North Bavaria. In comparison to other contemporary skeletal remains the Etruscan skulls had no similarities in common with Hallstatt-Celtic skulls from North Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg but rather with Hallstatt-Celtic skulls from Hallstatt in Austria. Compared to chronologically adjacent skeletal remains the Etruscan skulls did not show similarities with Early Bronze Age skulls from Moravia but with Latène-Celtic skulls from Manching in South Bavaria. Due to the similarities of the Etruscan skulls with some Celtic skulls from South Bavaria and Austria, it seems more likely that the Etruscans were original inhabitants of Etruria than immigrants.
Claassen
Horst
H
Institut für Anatomie, Universität Rostock, Gertrudenstrasse 9, D-18055 Rostock, Germany. horst.claassen@medizin.uni-halle.de
Wree
Andreas
A
D000328:Adult; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010163:Paleontology; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*