The Museum of Anthropology has the largest collection of aboriginal human skeletal material from the state of Michigan. These are exceptional collections for research because they are mostly from scientific excavations with excellent three-dimensional provenience documentation. Few other collections can substantiate this claim. These skeletal collections provide the only possibility of investigating the likely origins and relationships of the original inhabitants of Michigan. They have served as the basis for doctoral dissertations here at the University of Michigan as well as resources for the research of visiting scholars. The Museum of Anthropology treats them with utmost dignity and respect.

The additional human osteology collections are not numerous but have scientific and educational value. Dr. Carl E. Guthe excavated skeletons in the Philippine Islands in the 1920s. Students studying comparative osteology examine them for forensic information and regional anatomical characteristics. There is also a collection of crania that had been accumulated by Professor Cory Don Ford in the Department of Anatomy in the Medical School late in the 19th century. These are useful for instructional purposes and the demonstration of how statistical analysis of individual specimens can help to demonstrate population affiliations.