Anthropology

Why study anthropology?

Anthropology students will immerse themselves in the humanities, arts and social and natural sciences to study diverse human cultures.

  • As trained observers of people and interpreters of thousands of generations of excavated evidence, this program includes strong partnerships for study abroad in Exeter, England, research at the Archeodome in Mitchell, South Dakota, and field school in Nebraska.
  • Students have the opportunity to work on excavations, research in the Augustana Archaeology Laboratory and investigate individual research projects.
Anthropology Class

Academics at AU

Course Descriptions

Major Map

Faculty


Contacts


Social

Highlights

Forensics

Forensics at AU

Careers

Anthropologists have pursued careers as archaeologists, cultural resource managers, museum curators, researchers and in the fields of business and communications.

Hands-On Learning 

Internship opportunities include:

  • Augustana Archaeology Laboratory
  • Center for Western Studies (CWS)
  • Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
  • Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village
  • Pettigrew House and Museum in Sioux Falls

Through independent projects, students can research historic farmsteads, early inhabitants of North America, the study of modern cultures and ancient lifeways — in the library, laboratory, museums and field. 

Student and faculty research has been published in major journals, including:

  • American Antiquity
  • Plains Anthropologist 
  • South Dakota Archeology, which is published at the Augustana Archaeology Laboratory

Anthropology students study away at:

  • Field school at the Lynch site — a Plains village in Nebraska with AU faculty
  • South Dakota’s Archeodome — a state-of-the-art research and teaching facility at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village
  • University of Exeter in England
  • United States Southwest Region

Courses & Organizations

The major integrates four subfields that divide anthropology: archaeology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology and linguistics. Students study theory and practice from art, language, history, sociology, biology and chemistry.

Students can choose to study these tracks:

  • Archaeology
  • Cultural
  • Forensic 
  • Physical 

Anthropology students often participate in:

  • Anthropology Club
  • Classics Society
  • Augie Green