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Physical Anthropology Lab
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The lab explores human evolution through fossil and living primates.
AboutAbout the lab
Tracing primate evolution through fossils and bones.
The Physical Anthropology Lab studies the adaptation and evolution of primates through both comparisons among living primates and reconstructions of phylogeny and ecology from fossils and other materials from past eras.
Its materials include fossil primates and fossil humans, ancient human remains such as those from the Jomon period, and the teeth, muscles, skeletons, and brains of living primates.
Its methods include comparative anatomy, paleopathology, quantitative morphology, biomechanics, and stable isotope analysis.
The lab also actively carries out fossil excavation surveys overseas, in countries such as Kenya, Turkey, and Spain.
Key terms
- Physical anthropology
- The field that views humans as biological organisms and studies their evolution and body structure
- Paleopathology
- The field that studies traces of disease and injury left on the bones of people and animals from the past
- Stable isotope analysis
- A method that estimates what an individual ate and the environment it lived in from the proportions of different isotopes of elements contained in bones and other materials
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the adaptation and evolution of primates through both comparisons among lineages using living primates and reconstructions of phylogeny and ecology using fossils and other materials from past eras.
*Illustrative imagePrimate Adaptation and Evolution
Using fossil primates and fossil humans, the fossils of animals and plants found with them, ancient human remains from Japan and abroad, and the teeth, muscles, skeletons, and brains of living primates, the lab studies primate adaptation and evolution through comparative anatomy, biomechanics, stable isotope analysis, and other methods.
*Illustrative imageFossil Excavation in Kenya
The lab conducts fossil excavation surveys overseas, in Kenya, Turkey, Spain, and elsewhere. The excavation of fossil apes and humans in Kenya has continued for more than 30 years and is the lab's central project.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Physical Anthropology Lab consist of faculty members, researchers, doctoral and master's students, undergraduate students doing research projects, and academic assistants, technical assistants, and secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorMasato Nakatsukasa
- Associate ProfessorNaoki Morimoto
- Assistant Professor富澤
（川田） 美風
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “German fossil primates” Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer1, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Primate Adaptation and Evolution: “Leptadapis sp skull and Leptadapis magnus mandible” Ghedoghedo / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Fossil Excavation in Kenya: “Epipliopithecus vindobonensis” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kyoto University Museum Lab): “Kyoto University Museum” J o / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Earth Tectonics Lab): “Weathered growth rings at Aztec Ruins National Monument” Michael Gäbler / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kyoto University Institute for Human Behavior and Evolution – Oishi Lab): “Macaca fuscata meditation” Daisuke tashiro from Japan / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kyoto University Institute for the Evolution of Human Behavior (Eishi Hirasaki) Lab): “Coquerel's sifaka lemur (Propithecus coquereli) terrestrial locomotion” Charles J. Sharp / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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