Evolutionary Anthropology Collection

Team

Collection Inventory

Micro-CT Scanning and Existing Micro-CT Data

Open Science and ethical considerations

Guidelines for accessing the Evolutionary Anthropology Collection at the University Zurich

The Evolutionary Anthropology Collection curated by the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology includes a global sample of specimens, including human and non-human primate skeletal remains, fossils, hominin and hominoid casts, mummies, cadavers, and various biological samples such as hair and skin. The collection currently comprises approximately 15,500 items that have been amassed over the past 120 years. 

Highlights include: 

• The non-human primate skeletal collection with over 6,000 specimens 

• The non-human primate wet specimen collection with over 1,100 specimens 

Download a list of the genera held in both the dry and wet collections here: Collection_Pdf (PDF, 63 KB)

The Evolutionary Anthropology Collection shares ownership of a Nikon XT H 225 ST micro-CT scanner (https://industry.nikon.com/). This scanner is available for use on collection specimens (fees apply). For additional information contact the curator (Dr. Colin Shaw) at: collection@aim.uzh.ch 

Currently, around 700 non-human primate specimens have been scanned and are available through our partnership with the Human Fossil Record (https://human-fossil-record.org/). This partnership between the Evolutionary Anthropology Collection at UZH and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology continues to produce scans that are available for researchers to access via the Human Fossil Record website. 

The Evolutionary Anthropology Collection encourages researchers to openly share data from our specimens, benefiting the broader research community and minimizing repeated handling and exposure of the specimens. 

Additionally, the Evolutionary Anthropology Collection encourages researchers to uphold the highest standards of ethical responsibility in research practices. We kindly ask all users to consider the ethical implications of their work, especially concerning sensitive specimens, and to share data responsibly to support transparency and reproducibility.  

Nevertheless, data sharing is not a requirement for access. 

To request access to the collection, researchers are asked to send an email with the following information to the curator (Dr. Colin Shaw) at: collection@aim.uzh.ch 

• First and last Name: 

• E-Mail address: 

• Institutional affiliation and address: 

• Desired arrival date (DD/MM/YYYY): 

• Duration of visit (number of days): 

• Purpose of your visit, summary of your research project, specimens/samples you desire to use, data acquisition methods (i.e., bones, wet specimens, etc.): 

• Is your work destructive (e.g., involves tissue extraction, etc.)? yes, no 

• If you wish to use destructive methods, please specify exactly what you intend to do: