About

the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology

We are driven to understand the human phenomenon.

Our students are curious and driven to understand the world around them. We take a comparative, cross-cultural and cross-specific perspective to understand human beings. We consider how humans evolved, how they shape — and are shaped by — their culture, and we seek to understand the records they have left behind.

Archaeologists

study past and present societies through an examination of material culture.

Our teaching and research interests covers topics as wide ranging as the development of complexity and social identity, to human osteology and zooarchaeology.

Biological Anthropologists

study the fossil remains of our human ancestors, living primates, and how humans adapt to our environments.

We offer a wide range of courses that is without equal in Canada. Our laboratory contains casts of fossils from the earliest primates through to modern humans.

Social and cultural anthropologists

study different societies and cultures around the world.

Our Faculty members have strengths in issues related to resource extraction, military, medical, economic, urban, and political anthropology.

Development studies

is about social, economic, environmental, and political change.

We encourage learning by travel to other countries and participation in the university’s study abroad program.

Curious about our community involvement? Learn more