Courses and seminars which stress the social correlates of language and the suspected link between linguistic labeling practices, abstract forms of thought, and human behavior are available to the interested student. Cognate courses are available in logic, philosophy of science, and speech. The curriculum in archaeology is designed to give the student background in world prehistory, principles of field research, and competence in archaeological method and theory. Lecture courses examine cultural chronologies, the reconstruction of past lifeways, and the environmental, economic, technological, social, and cultural forces that shaped past human activity. Courses and seminars are available treating regional studies, the origin and development of complex societies, current issues in archaeological theory, and the history of the archaeological discipline.
Individual study is offered involving directed field and laboratory research.
In addition to the traditional four subdisciplines of anthropology, the department has three areas of specialization which crosscut subdisciplinary lines. These three areas are the anthropology of health, the anthropology of complex Native American societies, and the anthropology of religion. The anthropology of health is concerned with the biological and cultural interactions that influence the perceptions and symptoms of illness and health. Topical interests include folk medical models, stress and chronic disease, epidemiology, and paleopathology. Complex societies of Native Americans have been studied by all of our archaeology faculty.