Tracing the human career from the emergence of the species to the contemporary global moment
Department of Anthropology
The Department of Archaeology faculty conduct ethnographic and archaeological as well as biological research that brings hard-won fieldwork to the development of cutting edge social and cultural theories. Our students and faculty work around the globe: from Ithaca, India and Indonesia to the Caribbean and Central America; from Japan, Africa and Nepal to China and the Caucasus; and from the circumpolar North to the Global South.
Popular Destinations
Anthropology news
Reunion 2022 features host of A&S events
A number of special events are planned in the College of Arts & Sciences to celebrate Reunion 2022.
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Featured Anthropology Minor: Atif Akhter '22
I'm excited to see where my background in Anthropology can take me. I've learned so much about the world through the minor and the skills I've picked up over the years will definitely help me in my future.
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Featured Anthropology Major: Abraham Moss '22
Anthropology enlivens the mind most with the richness of specifics, the thick descriptions that bring the pages to life.
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Featured Anthropology Major: Grace Staes '22
For Students in anthropology, the best piece of advice I have is to let anthropology be the frame for whatever you want to study. Let It be the back door to a problem so that your interventions can be new.
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Einaudi awards fund global research and activities
Seed grants, student travel grants and internships totaling $355,000 in the 2021–22 academic year supported international work done by many A&S faculty and students.
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Grateful to be together: Meet the extraordinary class of 2022
Hear about the Cornell experiences of some of the amazing students in our graduating class.
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Migrations grants fund worldwide interdisciplinary projects
Cornell faculty and their community partners will tell the stories of local migrant farmworkers, use documentary film to better understand climate change and dispossession, learn how migratory birds are affected by drug trafficking and more.
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Undergraduate Study
Anthropology provides the global perspective and critical thinking skills that will open doors to a wide range of career paths. The major will also prepare you for graduate study in anthropology.
Student Opportunities:
Anthro Events
Sep
01
A. D. White House
Sep
16
Sep
30
McGraw Hall
Oct
21
McGraw Hall
Oct
28
McGraw Hall
Nov
18
Department Collections
The Anthropology Collections include approximately 20,000 items representing human activity around the world from the Lower Paleolithic to the present. Archaeological and ethnographic materials are about equally represented.
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters. This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.