World's Largest Human Fossil Cast Collection Goes Public

Through an interactive approach, the exhibition features a variety of multi-media programs, as well as more than 100 touchable casts of fossil bones from primate and human evolutionary records. Actual fossil cast evidence can be physically examined by scholars, students and the lay public alike. Moreover, members of the visiting public have the opportunity to learn how physical anthropologists and other scientists work to interpret the evidence. A complementary website offers an avenue for further exploration at www.penn.museum/humanevolution.

"Human evolution is the critical piece of the story of humankind-it's a story that the Penn Museum is uniquely able to tell," noted Dr. Richard Hodges, Williams Director of the Penn Museum. "We are also fortunate to have cutting-edge physical anthropological and early human archaeological research being carried out at this Museum and the University. This new long-term exhibition gives us the opportunity to share some of that research on evolution with the wider public."

Human Evolution is located in the Jacqueline W. and John C. Hover II Gallery on the second floor of the Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cover photo, top left: Marge Campagno and granddaughter Victoria enjoy an interactive experience at the Penn Museum’s Human Evolution: The First 200 Million Years exhibition, which gives visitors a number of ways to engage and explore evolutionary science. Photo: Penn Museum.