ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology is the comparative, evolutionary and historical study of humans, and non-human primates. The Department of Anthropology is currently divided into four sub-disciplines: Evolutionary Ecology, Cultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology and Archaeology.
Research Spotlight
Isaac Hart, Fieldwork in Mongolia
Isaac A. Hart (Ph.D. University of Utah, 2017) is a Post-Doctoral Zooarchaeological Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Utah. His research focuses on the archaeology of western North America and Mongolia and paleoenvironmental reconstruction and prehistoric human subsistence based on the analysis of archaeological vertebrates and fossil pollen. Most at home in the field, Isaac is a star alumnus of this field school and has been part of the program for the past eight years.
What's new in the Lab?
Zooarchaeology Lab
The Zooarchaeology Laboratory is housed in the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities of the Gardner Commons Anthropology/Geography research floor completed in 2019. The lab is used both as a research facility as well as a classroom for Zooarchaeology (ANTH 4372). One of the main functions of the lab is the preparation of vertebrate skeletons for the Osteological Reference Collection, the primary tool used in our zooarchaeological research. This collection, the largest of its kind in the Intermountain West, is represented by over 4,100 specimens: including over 500 fish, 700 reptiles and amphibians, 1,200 birds, and 1,700 mammals.
Many of these specimens can be viewed in the Natural History Museum.