The city-run Palatinate Museum chronicles Heidelberg’s eventful past, particularly the Roman period – exhibits include original wood beams from a 3rd-century bridge. To learn about really ancient history, check out the replica of the 600,000-year-old jawbone of Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man), unearthed some 18km southeast in 1907 (the original is stored at the university’s palaeontology institute). Most of the museum's late 15th- to 20th-century paintings and sculptures are by artists from or associated with the region.