Welcome to the Department of Anthropology

This website is an introduction to the department, informing you of the various opportunities we offer and to provide hints to help make your anthropology major or minor a valuable experience.

If you have any questions please contact the department. We heartily welcome questions and conversation.

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology is the comparative study of humanity. At its broadest, it seeks to understand the origin and diversification of human adaptations to the natural and social environment. Thus physical anthropologists study the evolution of human anatomy and archeologists study the artifacts left behind by human manipulation of the natural world. But the most complex and diverse products of human activity are the languages, social relations and cultural meanings humans have developed. It is these invisible artifacts that linguistic, cultural and social anthropologists study. The department of Anthropology at the University of Rochester specializes in this aspect of humanity: the comparative study of contemporary human cultures and societies.