Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated by dragging the pointer on the timeline bar, located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile. To filter by a specific topic, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. To learn more, click “Read More” below.

Read More
Anatomical and geometric sketches of eight skulls with various facial angles.
Anatomical sketches of various facial angles.

Anatomist and artist Pieter Camper introduces the "facial angle" as a way to racially differentiate skulls.

Date: 1770

HISR
BEAU
RAC
EUR
SRA
Anatomical sketches of various facial angles.

Camper creates this angle by drawing a line coming from the forehead, to the tip of the jaw, to a line coming from the ear to the bottom of the nose. He uses this angle to demonstrate a higher "European" forehead with a less pronounced jaw as closest to his (anatomically-impossible) Greco-Roman ideal of beauty. He then names the African facial structure as the furthest from his ideal.