Social Sciences: Anthropology

Anthropology is a discipline that studies human populations and cultures in the past and present. Subfields include cultural (or social) anthropology, biological anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. Other areas of research are a part of these broad categories, such as forensic anthropology, historical archaeology, bioarchaeology, and folklore.

Minor Overview

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Students wanting to earn a minor in Anthropology must complete 18 hours of Anthropology courses, of which ANTH 3300 (Cultural Anthropology) and ANTH 3340 (Biological Anthropology) are required.

ANTH 3300	Cultural Anthropology	3
ANTH 3340	Biological Anthropology	3
Upper-Level Anthropology Courses		12
Total Credit Hours		18

Anthropology minors have a variety of courses to choose from, such as:

Forensic Anthropology Apply the science of physical anthropology to the legal investigative process. Learn to identify human remains, as well as age, sex, ancestry, and stature of those remains, and how these are used to help establish positive identification. Special emphasis on skeletal trauma, and pathology to determine cause and manner of death. Myth and Ritual
Examine the history, beliefs, and practices of small-scale societies based on ethnographic literature. Study religious origins, shamanism, trance and other altered states, healing and bewitching, new religions, and certain treatments of the major religious traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Human Osteology Examine the human skeleton as the foundation for biological anthropological study. Learn concepts and methods used by anthropologists to identify, describe, and analyze human skeletal remains from forensic and archaeological contexts. Archaeology
Study the history of archaeology, its theories, methods, and current techniques in site excavation. Examine archaeological cultural complexity by studying hunter-gatherer and state societies in a worldwide overview, as well as within bioarchaeology, CRM work, and NAGPRA. 

Curious about other course offerings? View the Anthropology Course Descriptions.

Program Faculty

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