Anthropology is the study of humankind.
It seeks to understand the physical origins of humans, prehistoric origins and development of human cultures, physical variations of humans today, and varieties of societies and cultures in the contemporary world. An awareness of and appreciation for cultural diversity, both past and present, is a basic aspect of anthropology. Linguistics is also stressed through study in the foreign language department. Areas of Study Archaeology Archaeologists work to reconstruct prehistoric cultures from artifactual remains of earlier peoples. Areas of study include settlement patterns, paleoanthropology, prehistoric civilizations, origins of agriculture, artifact identification and analysis, fieldwork methods, and area studies in Missouri, North America, Europe and Mesoamerica.