Key Object Page

Neanderthaloid Skull

In August, we are looking at different skulls in the museum collections as part of our on-going Object of the Week series. Our first object of the week is a Neanderthaloid skull. This skull was given to the College by David M. Greig, a former conservator of Surgeons’ Hall Museum, who obtained it from a “medical friend, who had inherited it without knowledge of its origin”. The skull was described as having Neanderthal characteristics, with features such as the low forehead and heavy brow ridge. The back of the skull was also described as protruding at the base. In 2008 part of the mystery of this skull was solved when it was sent away for radiocarbon dating; the results show that the skull is that of a much more modern human, dating from the mid-17th century, as opposed to being from a Neanderthal. Neanderthals are our closest extinct relatives, having died out around 28,000 years ago.