The PACA Regional Osteotheque was created in 2005. Its mission is to manage and promote anthropological collections from archaeological excavations carried out in the region. The setting up of this entity for the storage of anthropological remains required an exhaustive recollection of the series excavated in the region.
More than a place, the osteotheque of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region (or OR DRAC PACA) is conceived as a platform for the management of anthropobiological remains, allowing for the most efficient use possible. The whole of the collections of the Osteotheque is preserved in two sites corresponding to nearly
of linear shelving in spaces exclusively reserved for the conservation of anthropological material: the ADES anthropology laboratory (UMR 7268), Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences, North sector, in Marseille and the regional archaeological repository of Aix-en-Provence in Les Milles. A framework agreement established between Aix-Marseille University, the Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences, the UMR 7268, and the Ministry of Culture, DRAC PACA, sets the rules for the conservation, management and consultation of the collections.
To date, the PACA Regional Osteotheque houses nearly 330 anthropological series (corresponding to more than 10,000 subjects) whose dating reveals a chronological spectrum ranging from protohistory to the modern era. These collections are available for study, after authorization from the SRA and from the managers of the Osteotheque. In addition, the Osteotheque also has a scientific committee. This committee is composed of regional, national and international specialists and also examines the requests for examination and the activity report of the structure. On the other hand, the committee's activity is prospective, so it rules on restoration operations, and the moving of collections out of the conservation centers. Finally, the osteotheque has set up in 2018, after a meeting of its scientific committee, a protocol for the request of destructive removal in order to allow to submit these requests to the CTRA for evaluation in the best possible conditions.