The Institute houses a reference collection of animal bones assembled between the 1970s and the 2000s. The collection has only modern material and was first established by Sebastian Payne to be used as a source of reference for zooarchaeological and environmental studies. In later years, the collection was reassessed and expanded by Evangelia Pişkin. The collection consists of mostly domestic mammals, as well as several birds and reptiles. 

• Full metadata information is openly accessible for the Animal Bone Reference Collection, however, photographic data is not yet fully available.