The J.L. Shellshear Museum
of Physical Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy
Introduction | Collections | Research and Activities
Contact Denise Donlon (Curator) on Tel: (02) 9351 4529, Fax: (02) 9351 6915, or E-Mail: <shellshear@anatomy.usyd.edu.au>.Introduction
The Shellshear Museum is a museum specialising in collections of human, other primate and marsupial skeletons. It also has a display of casts of a great range of hominids.
History
The museum is named after Joseph Lexden Shellshear (1885-1958) a Sydney University medical graduate, who held the Chair of Anatomy at the University of Hong Kong from 1923 until 1936. He then became Research Professor of Anatomy at the University of Sydney from 1937 to 1948. He is known for his work on the development of the peripheral nervous system (with Raymond Dart), on the study of the arterial blood supply to the brain and on the comparative morphology of the human skull and brain. He also had a great interest and stimulated work in the prehistory of both Hong Kong and Sydney.
Shellshear donated to the Department of Anatomy a large collection of human brains (no longer extant), skull and brain casts , books, bound scientific papers and records relating to his research work. This material was added to the department's osteological and zoological collections to form what is now the JLS Museum, established and named in Shellshear's honour in 1959. Since then, much anthropological and archival material has been added to the collections. The Museum has been completely refurbished and has become an important research facility for anthropological, forensic and other research work.
Location
The Shellshear Museum is located on the top floor of the Anderson Stuart building, room W601. Additional storage and laboratory space is located adjacent to the Mall Laboratory. The Museum is open weekdays: Tues- Thurs 10.00am - 4.00pm, Admission is FREE to anatomy students, bona fide researchers and scholars although some services attract a fee.
The Collections
The collections are mainly of human, other primate and marsupial skeletons as well as casts of hominids.
Human osteology
Skeletal remains from the following regions: Australia, Melanesia, Oceania, Middle East (Pella collection) A series of foetal skeletons.Zoological
Skulls and some skeletons of all classes of vertebrates with an emphasis on marsupials and primates.
Casts
Casts of skulls and endocranial casts of hominids and other primates. Reconstructions of Piltdown
Archival material
Books, papers and research records of J.L. Shellshear. N.W.G. Macintosh collections relating to research and field work on the dingo, New Guinea Highlands, Australian Aboriginal fossil skulls, Aboriginal art and stone implements etc. Collected notes and references of S.L. Larnach. Historical material relating to the Department of Anatomy and the JL Shellshear Museum.Research and Activities
Research in the Museum focuses on human osteology, particularly in the areas of juvenile skeletal remains, dietary analysis of bone, burial practices, forensic osteology and forensic dental anatomy and trace element analysis of bone. See also the Physical Anthropology & Comparative Anatomy Research Group.
Research access to collections
Access to the Australian Aboriginal skeletal collection may be given once permission is obtained from the relevant Aboriginal community. Access to non-Aboriginal skeletal remains may be given with permission from the curator, the Challis Professor of Anatomy and the head of the Department of Anatomy and Histology.
Courses
The Comparative Primate Anatomy (ANAT2002) and Forensic Osteology (ANAT3006) courses use the Shellshear Museum as a major teaching resource.