Human Origins Database
          In collaboration with Bernard Wood of The George Washington University and Malcolm Harman of the Powell-Cotton Museum, we have been developing an on-line database which houses published metrics for fossil hominin material, as well as detailed skeletal element inventories of great ape specimens housed at the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent, England. Data sheets are provided for each ape specimen which give information on in vivo and post-mortem damage to each bone as well information about articulation, presence of additional connective tissue, degree of epiphyseal fusion, etc. Also available are summaries of age-indicators (cranial suture fusion, long bone epiphyseal fusion, and dental eruption) for the entire ape collection, presented for each species and sorted by approximate place in the ontogenetic sequence. Access is free and available at http://www.humanoriginsdatabase.org.

Primate Body Mass
          As part of an analysis of sexual size dimorphism in primates (Gordon, 2006), I published an updated compilation of primate body mass data based heavily on the earlier work of Smith and Jungers (1997). Differences in the data sets are described in Gordon (2006). To encourage the use of this data set I am providing Excel and comma-delimited versions below.

    References
    • Gordon AD. 2006. Scaling of size and dimorphism in primates II: Macroevolution. International Journal of Primatology. 27:63-105.
    • Smith RJ, Jungers WL. 1997. Body mass in comparative primatology. Journal of Human Evolution. 32:523-59.

Primate Postcrania Collections Summaries (Note: this has not been updated in several years.)
          Although it is fairly easy to identify where primate cranial collections are located, it can be quite difficult to track down good collections of postcrania.  In the interest of reducing the amount of duplicated work for those of us who study primate postcranial morphology, I put together a spreadsheet of postcranial specimens in collaboration with Patricia Vinyard.  Currently I have information on specimens measured by myself and/or Patricia Vinyard at various US and European museums (see below).  Summaries broken out by collection and taxon are available for download below. This spreadsheet only includes a subsample of specimens available at these museums and relatively few elements, and may not necessarily reflect all of the specimens available for that taxon.  In particular, only adults have been included.
          Many thanks to Patricia Vinyard for sharing her postcranial specimen information. If you would like to contribute collection information, please let me know.

    Museum Abbreviations
    • AIMZ - Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich
    • AMNH - American Museum of Natural History
    • BMNH - British Museum of Natural History
    • CMNH - Cleveland Museum of Natural History
    • FMNH - Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago)
    • MCZH - Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
    • MRAC - Royal Museum of Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium)
    • NMNH - National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution)
    • PCM - Powell-Cotton Museum (Kent, England)
    • UTA - University of Texas at Austin, Dept. of Anthropology