Databases & Resources
The Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology offers public databases to support open science for worldwide research and educational communities. We also provide 3D printing services for the GW Anthropology department.
Databases
Skeletal Collections from Primate Study Sites
CASHP researchers are engaged in collaborative efforts with national parks authorities and other partners to curate and preserve naturally accumulated skeletal remains from several long-term wild primate study sites, including Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda; Amboseli National Park, Kenya; and Gombe National Park, Tanzania. These projects also manage two- and three-dimensional images (dental X rays, CT scans, laser scans) and other datasets generated from specimens in these collections.
The Turkana Database
The Turkana Database compiles fossil vertebrates from the late Cenozoic of the Turkana Basin (from about 1 to 7 million years ago). Currently, the database has 16,997 records for 28 mammalian families (including the Hominidae) and other vertebrate groups from the Koobi Fora, Nachukui, Kanapoi and Nawata formations. Hosted on the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History website, the database was created in partnership with the National Museums of Kenya. The data were compiled, entered and checked by scientists from across the country, including GW graduate students.
Human Origins Database
The Human Origins Database contains detailed information on fossil hominin specimens as well as extant hominoid specimens. Available information includes skeletal elements present for a particular specimen as well as measurements.
The database requires a login; please contact CASHP to request access.
The Phillip Vallentine Tobias Publication List
Paleoanthropologist, educator and writer Phillip Tobias spent decades recovering and documenting fossils in South Africa. In order to share Tobias’s important publication record, Bernard Wood has attempted to organize the publications into categories that contemporary researchers routinely use. Our thanks to Beverley Kramer and Felicity Krowitz-Osorio for making the office publication list and curriculum vitae available. Please contact CASHP to request access.
National Chimpanzee Brain Resource
The National Chimpanzee Brain Resource (NCBR) has the aim of facilitating research advancement through the collection and distribution of chimpanzee neuroimaging data and postmortem brain tissue. The NCBR also serves as a portal to access chimpanzee brain atlas tools, data repository, bibliography of publications, educational information, and links to other chimpanzee brain resources and datasets on the Internet.
To request an accessible version of any database content, please contact CASHP.
3D Printing Services
Housed in the CASHP facilities on GW's campus, the Anthropology Department's 3D printer can produce models for the Smithsonian Institution and other organizations. The printer also provides an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to practice with the growing technology.