Breadcrumb
Department of Anthropology
Anthropology is a holistic science dedicated to the study of human biological and cultural diversity and evolution. It seeks to understand how people live in and respond to their environments. Anthropology includes the intersecting subfields of archaeology, biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and applied anthropology.
Anthropologists integrate methods and theories from across the sciences, arts, and humanities to study the many intriguing facets of humanity across space and time – from the earliest fossil humans to the more recent archaeological record and present-day cultures. Anthropology majors develop useful and marketable life skills that are broadly applicable to multiple career trajectories.
Scroll down to see our degree programs, minors, certificates, and field programs
Degree Programs
Anthropology, B.S.
Anthropology is a holistic science dedicated to the study of human cultural and biological diversity and evolution. Anthropology is unique in that it integrates fields of study that traditionally span multiple disciplines in the sciences, arts, and professional studies.
Program Concentrations: archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology.
Applied Anthropology, M.A.
The MA in Applied Anthropology is a relevant and flexible program focused on building competitive, marketable skills. Applied anthropology is the application of anthropological perspectives, methods, theories, and practices to human and environmental problems in academic, professional, and global contexts.
Minors & Certificates
Field Programs
Belize Archaeology Field School
The Belize Archaeology Field School involves field survey, excavation at several Maya sites, and laboratory experience working directly with excavated Maya artifacts. Field techniques, lectures on Maya culture history and instruction concerning artifact analysis are provided.
Poland Bioarchaeology Field Program
The Medieval Bioarchaeology Field Program in Żelewo, Poland is a summer field school run jointly by faculty from the University of Szczecin in Poland and other institutions in the US and Poland. The program is run in cooperation with the Slavia Foundation. It is a unique opportunity to excavate and analyze medieval remains as part of a salvage archaeological project due to intensive agriculture and natural processes in the region.
Macedonia Archaeology Project
The Macedonia Archaeology Research Project is an international collaboration between researchers in the US and Macedonia. The project focuses on the Hellenistic, or Macedonian, era and into the Roman conquest…
Cultural Resources Facility
The Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) is one of the largest cultural resources management (CRM) companies in California that is directly associated with a university. The CRF offers students hands-on field, lab, and office training in CRM, a major career area in applied archaeology.
International Field Schools
Our summer programs include the Belize Archaeology Field School, Poland Medieval Bioarchaeology Field School, and Macedonia Archaeology Project, and we encourage exchange programs, enabling students to travel the world and make hands-on, international experiences an integral part of their education.
Internships
Students have the opportunity to receive credit for engaging in resume-building internships as part of Anthropology programs. The Anthropology Department has many opportunities to get involved field and lab projects on and around campus. Anthropology students can also intern with local, national, and international agencies such as museums, tribal historic preservation offices, coroner’s offices, nonprofits, shelters, community action groups, advocacy organizations, zoos, conservation organizations, and more.
Research Facilities & Collections
The Anthropology Department has multiple laboratories, a collections facility, and a simulated archaeological site, which include state-of-the-art technologies. Students and collaborating scientists use these facilities for classes, hands-on training, and to conduct a wide range of innovative research. Anthropology students have presented their findings at professional conferences, co-authored papers in peer-reviewed journals, and won awards and scholarships for their research.
Place-Based Learning Community: People & Planet
As an ANTH freshman, you’ll participate in hands-on activities with your peers before classes even start and in some cases, have the opportunity to live in the same residence halls with your peers. ANTH students will join four other departments for People & Planet, which focuses on learning how sustainability is local and global, while addressing specific case studies in fields like agriculture, clean energy, and climate justice.
Career Options
- Teacher
- College Professor
- Education Administrator
- Researcher
- Writer
- Museum Docent/Curator
- Registered Professional Archaeologist
- Cultural Resources Manager
- Historian, Area Specialist (e.g., Mayanist, Egyptologist)
- Contract Archaeologist
- Heritage Preservation Officer
- Archaeologist with U.S. Forest Service
- Archaeologist with Caltrans
- Zooarchaeologist
- Maritime Archaeologist
- Primatologist (behavior/ecology/conservation)
- Paleoanthropologist
- Forensic Anthropologist
- Bioarchaeologist
- Evolutionary Theorist
- Skeletal Biologist
- Linguistic
- Semantic & Rhetoric Analyst (media, politics...)
- Narrative Analyst
- Translator
- Speech Communities Worker
- Linguistic Pragmatics Fields
- Ethnographer
- Community/International Development Worker
- Advocate
- Social/Environmental Justice Worker
- Medical Anthropologist
- Diplomat
- NGO/Aid Worker
- Civil Rights Worker
- Cultural Consultant
Achievements
Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.
Gordon Ulmer
Anthropology
Dr. Gordon Ulmer has been awarded a prestigious $25,000 Wenner-Gren Post PhD Research and Dissertation Fieldwork Grant. His research project is titled, “Multispecies Encounters on the Gahwtco’ (Redwood) Coast: Landscapes of Precarity and Survivance in Times of Change”.
Nick Angeloff & Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon
Anthropology
The Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) received a $500,000 grant to survey and document historic and pre-contact resources within approximately 10,000 acres in the Six Rivers National Forest. The project will offer paid internships and student employment through CRF, and is therefore able to provide Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods students with applied experience within the field of Anthropology, Geospatial, Geology, and other departments within the university. If a faculty member is interested in having their students participate in these surveys, or if students want to apply for a position, please email crf@humboldt.edu.
Nick Angeloff, Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon
Anthropology
Nick Angeloff and Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon received a grant from the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (GRCD) that will allow the Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) to conduct a cultural resources and botanical investigation for the GRCD’s Iron Horse Fish Screen Project (IHFSP), a stream remediation project that will remove barriers to Salmonid migration along a creek. CRF’s investigation will identify known or unknown cultural resources within the project location, and ensure that no historic resources will be impacted by the project.