The San Diego Museum Of Man

Dedicated to anthropology, the Museum of Man exhibits people and places from around the globe, and its Spanish architecture is attributed to the rich Hispanic heritage surrounding the area.  While the museum’s five permanent exhibits (Ancient Egypt, Kumeyaay: Native Californians, Footsteps Through Time: Four Million Years of Evolution, Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, and Discover Egypt) are wildly popular to locals and visitors, the special exhibits prove to be just as fun and educational. Currently, the “Counter Cultures: The Secret Lives of Games” exhibit travels around the world to discover the best board, tile and card games, Race: Are We So Different, the first national exhibit telling stories of race from biological, cultural and historic points of view, as well as Strange Bones: Curiosities of the Human Skeleton, focusing on things that affect our skeletons throughout our lives.

Visitors can view specimens that evidence dwarfism, the fusion of fractured bones as the result of abnormal healing, the effects of diseases such as scurvy and syphilis, and culturally motivated modifications such as foot-binding and neck rings. From the sometimes surprising cultural modifications humans impose on their own bodies to the natural existence of extra digits and even the sometimes gruesome effects of disfiguring diseases, visitors will no doubt enjoy seeing firsthand and learning about such Strange Bones.

(619) 239.2001; www.museumofman.org; Mass Transit bus route # 7.

Click here for a map to the San Diego Museum of Man.