Fossil Cast Collection

The Research Laboratories of Archaeology (RLA) maintains a collection of fossil casts that include human crania and postcrania as well as nonhuman primates dating from roughly 35 million years BP to present. The collection is available for use to anyone in the Department of Anthropology, Curriculum in Archaeology, and other departments at UNC.

Use of the casts must be scheduled through the RLA with Dr. Heather Lapham (hlapham@unc.edu). Please review the Guidelines for Fossil Cast Use prior to making a reservation to borrow them.

We maintain two sets of casts. The larger set may only be used in Alumni Hall, while the other set (reduced in number and coverage) may travel outside of Alumni Hall. For those casts that must remain in Alumni Hall, we prefer to have them used in Alumni 404, the teaching laboratory. To schedule the room, please contact the RLA’s Administrative Manager Barbara Carson (barboski@email.unc.edu) one month prior to intended dates of use as the casts are often reserved by other classes. Room availability can be limited; if there is a conflict, we will attempt to find an alternate room.

Please remember to review the Guidelines for Fossil Cast Use prior to making a reservation. A meeting to discuss and stage the casts is usually required a few days ahead of their intended use.

Below you will find basic information about each cast, including catalog number, species or genus name, and skeletal element. Text that appears in blue links to a 3D model of the cast. We are currently working to create models for all casts, so please be patient as we continue our efforts. Within the tables, postcrania appear before crania. The casts are then ordered by species and within species by catalog number, which is generally how they are placed on the shelves in each cabinet. You can also download an Excel spreadsheet of the casts listed below that contains more information about each cast, including fossil and cast numbers, alternate species name, fossil date and location (site and country) as well as additional notes.

You might also want to check out ANTH 148: Human Origins’ two online recitations: a) Primate and Human Morphology and b) Fossil Hominins.

Traveling Casts (Cabinets 1 and 2)

Australopithecines (Cabinet 3)

Early Homo from Africa (Cabinet 4)

Homo erectus from Eurasia (Cabinet 5)

Archaic Homo sapiens (Cabinet 6)

Modern Homo sapiens (Cabinet 7)

Primates and Other Mammals (Cabinet 8)

Modern Homo sapiens (Cabinet 9)