Museo delle origini

About the museum

The Museo delle Origini was founded in 1942 by Ugo Rellini, holder of the chair of palethnology at the University of Rome. It began with a first core of collections donated by Rellini himself and has grown over time thanks to research by the Institute of Palethnology, exchanges with other Italian and foreign museums and loans from the heritage authorities (Soprintendenze).

Most of the finds come from surveys and excavations carried out mainly in central and southern Italy and on the islands. The display was renewed in 1962, on the occasion of the 6th International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, and again in 1992, with a complete reorganisation and spaces for teaching.

The exhibition route places the finds in chronological and cultural order and reconstructs how they were made and used, from the earliest traces of the Palaeolithic to the threshold of historical times. Thematic sections cover social organisation, subsistence activities, funerary rites and technology. Most of the material on display is original, supplemented by casts and reconstructions; the museum is located behind the Lettere e Filosofia building.

Highlights

• Flint tools from the Lower Palaeolithic, about 500,000 years old
• Skull of Elephas antiquus found during excavations on Via dei Fori Imperiali
• Wooden finds from the Ledro pile-dwelling village, about 4,000 years old
• Grave goods from the Bronze Age and Proto-Villanovan burials
• Reconstruction of a Copper Age burial from Cava Koch in Recanati, and models of huts, pile dwellings and nuraghi

Permanent exhibition

• Preistoria italiana dal Paleolitico alla prima età del Ferro – Italian prehistoric material, reproductions of skulls from the human evolutionary series, reconstructions of burials and models of settlements.

Founded

1942

Operated by

Sapienza Università di Roma – Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità

Director

Giulia Recchia

Visitors per year

approx. 800

Admission & discounts

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Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is located behind the Lettere e Filosofia building (CU011), on the Sapienza university campus (Città universitaria), at Piazzale Aldo Moro 5.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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