BA Anthropology

Anthropology majors may choose to concentrate in one or more subfields of anthropology by taking at least four courses in: archaeology, biological anthropology, or cultural anthropology. Archaeology is the scientific study of past human behavior and societies from material remains of the earliest human ancestors to recent times. *Biological anthropology is the study of human biological variation and evolution. Biological anthropologists seek to document and explain the patterning of biological variation among contemporary human populations, trace the evolution of our lineage through time in the fossil record, and provide a comparative perspective on human uniqueness by placing our species in the context of other living primates. Cultural anthropology addresses broad questions about what it means to be human in contemporary societies and cultures, as well as those of the recent past. Cultural anthropologists systematically explore topics such as technology and material culture, social organization, economies, political and legal systems, language, ideologies and religions, health and illness, and social change.