l l HOMO—Journal of Comparative Human Biology 56 (2005) 197–205 The Pretoria Bone Collection: A modern South African skeletal sample E.N. L’Abbe´ Ã , M. Loots, J.H. Meiring Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa Received 21 July 2003; accepted 25 October 2004 The authors dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. S.R. Loth 1949–2002 Abstract The Pretoria Bone Collection began with the inception of the Department of Anatomy and the Medical School at the University of Pretoria in August 1942. Since then the collection has grown from a student aid to a resource for research. In the year 2000, the Pretoria Bone Collection was reorganised. The research material was divided into skulls, complete postcranial and incomplete postcranial remains. The collection presently contains 290 complete skeletons, 704 complete skulls and 541 complete postcranial remains. This paper presents information on the composition of this collection and hopes to heighten both national and international awareness of the collection and research opportunities in South Africa. r 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction For a variety of research topics in fields such as anthropology, pathology, molecular biology, physiology, forensic science, and specific medical disciplines, collections of human skeletons are useful, sometimes even indispensable. The ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/jchb 0018-442X/$-see front matter r 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2004.10.004 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +27123192235; fax: +27123192240. E-mail addresses: l’abbe@med.up.ac.za (E.N. L’Abbe´), mloots@medic.up.ac.za (M. Loots), imering@medic.up.ac.za (J.H. Meiring).