About "The Mammalia Collection
at the Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie München"

The Collection

The Mammalia Collection at the Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie München (SAPM) comprises more than 3,500 skeletons of about 360 taxa of mammals. Officially founded in 2000, the collection emanated from the Institut für Paläoanatomie, Domestikationsforschung und Geschichte der Tiermedizin (established in 1965 with Prof. Dr. Joachim Boessneck as director) and was designed to set up a reference collection of recent mammal skeletons. The aim is to have a well curated accessible representative collection of mammal skeletons for research purposes, particularly for the analysis of faunal remains from archaeological sites. The geographic scope of the Mammalia Collection at the SAPM spans the globe, with a focus on species of the Old World, though. The collection comprises specimens of taxa of socio-economic interest to humans or species found in association with human settlements. Certain specimens represent old breeds of livestock, which in the meantime became endangered or even extinct. It is intended that each taxon is represented by several individuals giving a cross-section through the intraspecific variability in skeletal morphology, age-related growth and sexual dimorphism. The collection is used by archaeozoologists, archaeologists and biologists, e. g., for metrical or anatomical analyses (size and shape of the bones) and to study and determine the skeletal remains from archaeological sites.

Data Project and Service

The data project "The Mammalia Collection at SAPM" was established by Dr. Henriette Obermaier (curator until 2019) and continued by Dr. Nadja Pöllath (curator since 2019). The data entry was mainly done by Britta Möllenkamp and scientific survey provided by Dr. Henriette Obermaier. "The Mammalia Collection at SAPM" uses Diversity Workbench components. The JSP web interface was programmed by Asif R. Lakehsar, Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, IT Center. The taxonomy and nomenclature essentially follows the Mammal Species of the World.

Currently the data project "The Mammalia Collection at SAPM" is maintained and expanded by staff members of the Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie München (SAPM). Notices of errors of any kind are much appreciated by the editorial staff there. Technical support is provided by the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, IT Center.

The Database "The Mammalia Collection at SAPM" and – if not stated otherwise – its supporting files have been copyrighted © 2009–2024 by the Staatssammlung für Anthropologie und Paläoanatomie München.