Microtomographic archive of fossil hominin specimens from Kromdraai B, South Africa

The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (DNMNH) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) established a collaboration in 2010 to scan fossil hominin specimens housed at DNMNH using microtomography (microCT). The goal of this collaboration is to facilitate research and create a ‘virtual copy’ of the fossils for the DNMNH records. Within the context of this ongoing collaboration, the focus of this contribution is the fossil hominin material from the site of Kromdraai B, South Africa. The goals are to 1) formally publish the microCT scans of the Kromdraai material and facilitate their availability to the scientific research community, 2) address uncertainties regarding specimen accession numbers, 3) highlight internal aspects of anatomy revealed through the microCT scans, and 4) clarify the hominin status of a number of postcranial specimens. Finally, 2D images of surface models, a 3D PDF surface model, a movie of each microCT volume, and the original microCT volume of each specimen are made available via an open access online archive (http://paleo.eva.mpg.de).