Department of Anthropology

Anthropology is concerned with how humans and human societies evolve, with the differences and similarities among human cultures, and with the cultural and biological basis for human behavior. Anthropology integrates a wide range of perspectives on human behavior, culture, and society. Students become familiar with the basic concerns of four subgroups of anthropology:

Archaeology offers courses covering many geographic regions (Latin America, North America, and China), techniques of analysis, and issues in prehistory. Museum collections, internships in cultural resource management, and a summer field school provide opportunities for student involvement in archaeological work.
Physical anthropology offers classes on evolutionary theory; human genetics; osteoarchaeology; and human and nonhuman primate evolution, anatomy, morphology, and behavior.
Cultural anthropology offers a wide variety of courses on cultural areas including the Pacific, Latin America, China, Japan, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Classes provide cross-cultural studies of topics such as medical anthropology, food, social and political organization, gender roles, kinship, ethnicity and nationalism, folklore, religion, and conflict and violence.
Anthropological linguistics offers courses on the nature of languages around the world, focusing on the relationship of language to other aspects of culture and society. Among the courses offered are Gypsy Language and Culture and Writing Systems of Ancient Mesoamerica.

For more information on the major and the Department of Anthropology, visit www.anthropology.pitt.edu.

Programs

Major

Anthropology, BA

Courses

Anthropology

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