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. 2025 Jul;187(3):e70085.
doi: 10.1002/ajpa.70085.

Human, Animal, or Mineral? Ethical Considerations for Studies of Fossilized Hominin Remains

Thomas H Champney  1 , Heather F Smith  2   3 , Sabine Hildebrandt  4 , Jon Cornwall  5
Affiliations

Human, Animal, or Mineral? Ethical Considerations for Studies of Fossilized Hominin Remains

Thomas H Champney et al. Am J Biol Anthropol. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Ethical considerations around research and education with modern human subjects, use of human tissue, and studies involving humans are ubiquitous within the global scientific community. This commentary explores considerations around how and whether these types of ethical considerations may apply to hominin fossils. While some might propose that the age of a fossil could be the basis for decisions around their ethical handling, it may be that characteristics or behaviors of the hominins are a more appropriate measure to determine their ethical status. These types of ethical considerations have recently been examined in other historical human tissues, such as mummies and ancient DNA, with these ethical explorations being driven by a recognition of evolving ethical perspectives around the world. Thus, there is both the precedent and stimulus for the paleoanthropology community to revisit current ethical practices within the profession. Doing so would help identify and establish standards that are reflective of global perspectives around the contemporary ethical management of hominin fossils, and potentially assist in aligning these practices with other disciplines that work with both hominin fossils and human tissues.

Keywords: anatomy; biological anthropology; ethics; fossils; hominin; human remains; paleoanthropology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Jon Cornwall, Sabine Hildebrandt, and Thomas H. Champney are all members of the Federative International Committee for Ethics in the Medical Humanities (FICEM), the ethics committee of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists. Jon Cornwall is the Chair of FICEM. Sabine Hildebrandt is a member of the Human Remains in Harvard Museum Collections Research Review Committee. She receives royalties from her book “The Anatomy of Murder.” Thomas H. Champney was a member of the American Anthropological Association's Ethical Treatment of Human Remains Commission. Thomas H. Champney oversees the South Florida Body Donation Program, is entrusted with the care of human remains in this program and serves on the University of Miami's Anatomical Advisory Committee. Heather F. Smith is the Editor‐in‐Chief of The Anatomical Record. She is Director of the Menefee Paleontological Project and holds an active Paleontological Resources Use Permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for collection of Cretaceous fossil vertebrates.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Logarithmic scale indicating the years before present at which fossilized hominin remains have been found and comparing that with burial rituals, dissection, and other uses of the deceased. The lower part of the figure describes a continuum that reflects the range in the level of detail of ethical statements that may occur due to the nature of the human remains, and the suggested level of detail of ethical statements related to the age of the remains. The figure is intended to stimulate discussion around when ethical practices should change for any “human‐like” remains, fossilized or otherwise, and what factors may be used as justification for these changes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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