The William W. Howells Craniometric Data Set consists of craniometric measurements taken from 2524 human crania from 28 populations. Up to 82 measurements were obtained from these crania. In addition, Dr. Howells obtained data from 524 "test" crania (crania not included in the main data set). Sex was estimated from crania by Dr. Howells and is also provided in both data sets, and additional notes are provided about the provenance of the "test' crania. The links to the data may be found at the bottom of this page.

Dr. William Howells compiled these data between 1965 and 1980, and published on them in three monographs (see below). Some details about the history of his data and the measurements may be found in his publication from 1996's American Journal of Physical Anthropology 101:441-442, which may be downloaded here.

These data are now made available to researchers for download from this site. Data were previously made available by Dr. Lyle Konigsberg. The data are available below as Microsoft Excel legacy files (*.XLS) and as comma-separated text files (*.CSV). Provenance information for the samples may be found in any of Howells' monographs.

ANY USE OF THESE DATA IN PRESENTED OR PUBLISHED RESEARCH CARRIES THE STIPULATION THAT THE SOURCE OF THE DATA BE CITED. ACCEPTABLE CITATIONS FOR THE DATA INCLUDE THE REFERENCE OF THE MONOGRAPHS ABOUT THESE DATA AND OF THIS WEB SITE. PLEASE CONTACT DR. AUERBACH FOR INQUIRIES ABOUT ACCESS TO THESE DATA.

Howells Craniometric Data Set (right-click and save file)
Microsoft Excel (XLS) file
Comma-separated values (CSV) file

Howells Craniometric "Test" Data Set (right-click and save file)
Microsoft Excel (XLS) file
Comma-separated values (CSV) file

Monographs about the Howells Craniometric Data Set:

Howells WW. 1973. Cranial Variation in Man. A Study by Multivariate Analysis of Patterns of Differences Among Recent Human Populations. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, vol. 67, pp. 259. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum.

Howells WW. 1989. Skull Shapes and the Map. Craniometric Analyses in the Dispersion of Modern Homo. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 79, pp. 189. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum.

Howells WW. 1995. Who’s Who in Skulls. Ethnic Identification of Crania from Measurements. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 82, pp. 108. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum.