Department of Anthropology

A Brief History

Anthropology is the comparative, evolutionary and historical study of human and non-human primates. Our internationally respected faculty takes a theoretically-driven, empirically-informed approach to the discipline. Our core mission is to discover and communicate new knowledge
through basic and strategic research, the foundation from which we educate and train scientifically literate and intellectually engaged citizens and equip them with relevant skills for the modern world.

The University of Utah has a long history of anthropological and archaeological research. Henry Montgomery, professor of natural history, began academic archaeological research at the University in the 1890s. In 1914, Byron Cummings founded the Department of Archaeology. In
1917, a joint Department of Anthropology and Sociology was created, and in 1926 Anthropology became a separate department, though briefly reunited with Sociology from 1933 through 1948. The Department grew significantly during the 1960s and 70s and enrollments increased. At that
time, the faculty approached its present size (15 FTE) and a PhD program was added to the curriculum. A shift to an evolutionary and empirical focus emerged in the mid-1980s. This continues today: the department is recognized for its unified scientific and evolutionary approach to major
questions in the discipline and cognate fields, including biology, environmental science, geology, and human genetics.

Upcoming Events

November 20th Colloquium Speaker

Elic Weitzel

Peter Buck Postdoc Research Fellow, Dept of Anthropology,

SmithsonianNational Museum of Natural History

"Till Our Deer Be Increased Again: Lessons In

Sustainability From The Historical Ecology Of White-Tailed Deer"

Thursday, November 20th

4:15 pm

GC 2675

Click here to RSVP for Zoom link

"Till Our Der Be Increased Again: Lessons in Sustainability from the Historical ecology of White-Tailed Deer"

Archaeologists have long sought to demonstrate the relevance of their research to present-day social and environmental issues. Behavioral ecology provides a theory-based means by which to connect archaeological insights to current issues of policy relevance, instead of more tenuous analogy-based approaches. To investigate how we can sustainably use and manage natural resources today, I turn to an analysis of white-tailed deer historical ecology in eastern North America. While white-tailed deer were heavily hunted for millennia and some evidence of resource depression exists, their populations remained high until European colonization of the continent. Yet soon after, due to their commodification within mercantile capitalist markets, deer populations declined and the species was nearly extinct by the turn of the 20th century. White-tailed deer have now rebounded thanks to their decommodification via legislation, and their story provides several policy lessons about beneficial ecosystem engineering, the role of human demography in sustainability, and the harms of commodification under capitalism.

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Undergraduate Programs

Anthropology Major

Anthropology is the comparative, evolutionary and historical study of human, and nonhuman primates.

EXPLORE MAJORS AND EMPHASES

Anthropology Minor

Because we study all aspects of humans, anthropology is holistic and inter-disciplinary and anthropologists work hand-in-hand with other sciences such as biology, physiology, sociology and psychology—just to name a few.

Integrative Human Biology Minor (IHB)

Engage in research in human form and function, human evolution and biological variation, human behavior, and the roles humans play in local and global ecosystems. Students will acquire the broad but rigorous background they will need as professionals in the 21st-century health sciences and many other fields that engage directly with aspects of human adaptation and welfare.

EXPLORE ANTHROPOLOGY MINORS

Have a question about anthropology? Ready to declare?

BOOK AN ADVISING APPOINTMENT

GRADUATE DEGREES

M.S. in Anthropology & M.A. in Anthropology

Graduate students engage in cutting edge research that crosses disciplinary and sub-disciplinary lines to address questions about human biology, behavior, culture and evolution.

EXPLORE MASTERS PROGRAMS

Ph.D. in Anthropology

Our Department takes a theoretically-driven, empirically-informed perspective focusing on the following specific areas of expertise: archaeology, genetics, behavioral ecology, paleoanthropology, hunter-gatherer behavior, and human and non-human primate behavior.

EXPLORE THE PHD

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