Physical Anthropology 

The departmental collections are dominated by the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection. This collection is the largest of its kind in the world. It consists of 3,100 modern human and more than 900 non-human primates skeletons.

Each human skeleton is accompanied by a wealth of information including records of height, weight, age at death, gender, race, cause of death and over 60 measurements taken on the cadavers.

Also included in this remarkable collection is the largest assemblage of lowland gorilla skeletons in the world and the largest collection of common chimpanzees in the western hemisphere.

The Hamann-Todd collection is the most researched and published osteological collection. The easy accessibility and excellent curation of the Hamann-Todd collection stands as an example to other museums with osteological collections.

Current departmental research

Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, the Head of the Physical Anthropology department, and Dr. Bruce Latimer, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University are conducting research on the paleobiology of early Australopithecus based on the new partial skeleton (Kadanuumuu) of Australopithecus afarensis, in collaboration with colleagues from other institutions. Furthermore, the department continues to conduct its annual fieldwork research at the Woranso-Mille study area in the Afar region of Ethiopia. It also conducts its summer laboratory research at the paleoanthropology Laboratory of the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. The field and laboratory research involves both graduate and undergraduate students from Case Western Reserve University and other institutions in Ethiopia and the United States.

The Department of Physical Anthropology offers programs giving an opportunity for a more in-depth look at the discipline. Undergraduate students interested in a paid summer internship in this discipline are encouraged to investigate the Adopt-A-Student program.