Professor Hirofumi Matsumura from the School of Medical Sciences at Sapporo Medical University, Japan, conducted research at the Scientific Fund of the ANAS Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology as part of the project Reconstruction of the Two-Layer Model to Understand Anatomical Model Human (AMH) Dispersal Based on Human Craniofacial Variability.

The primary goal of this international project is to investigate the dynamics of changes in craniofacial structure resulting from climatic adaptation. Studying the patterns of this variability is essential for understanding how hunter-gatherers—and later, agricultural and pastoral communities—spread across the world, settled in new territories, and interacted with the populations that preceded them.

At the Scientific Fund of the Institute, human skulls from various historical periods were collected. These were subsequently restored and analyzed using 3D geometric morphometric imaging at the Traceological and Experimental Archaeology Laboratory.

Professor Hirofumi Matsumura was accompanied by Professor Dr. Yılmaz Selim Erdal, Head of the Department of Anthropology at Hacettepe University, Türkiye. Researchers from the ANAS Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology also participated in the study.