Anthropology

Upon admission to the university, students declare an interest in anthropology within the College of Arts and Sciences. Interested students contact the undergraduate advisor for anthropology and an advisor in Arts and Sciences Advising.

The anthropology major, leading to a BA, requires a minimum of 34 credit hours. 

• one prerequisite course, Introduction to Physical Anthropology 
• core courses (15 hours): World Prehistory, Peoples and Culture, History of Anthropological Theory, Fundamentals of Archaeology, and either Human Evolution or Human Variation
• an additional course in each of the subfields of anthropology (nine hours)—archaeology, physical anthropology and cultural anthropology 
• six additional hours taken from any subfield of anthropology

Internships are strongly encouraged in a range of settings, including museums, contract archaeology firms, and in a variety of local, state and federal agencies. 

A forensic field school is usually offered every summer on the Columbus campus. In addition, the department regularly offers an archaeological field school in either the United States or Europe. In the United States, this includes fieldwork especially in the Midwest. 

The Department of Anthropology offers Honors sections of the introductory courses that survey the basic concepts and knowledge of the three major subdivisions (Introduction to Physical Anthropology, World Prehistory, and Peoples and Cultures). Honors students may pursue graduation with distinction in anthropology by completing a senior Honors thesis. Non-Honors students may also graduate with research distinction by the completion of a senior thesis.

Undergraduates can become involved in diverse laboratory and field-based research opportunities. We are on the leading edge of undergraduate training of anthropological scientists and are poised to offer more opportunities. 

For the next several years, Ohio State has a project in Hungary that involves student participation. The National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the International Research Experience for Students programs fund multiple students for research in Hungary each year. 

In addition to general laboratory space for undergraduate research, students benefit from exploring the following:

• the premier paleoethnobotany laboratory in the nation
• a state-of-the-art bioarchaeology laboratory
• an extensive collection of human skeletal remains
• laboratory resources and comparative materials for forensic studies
• archaeological field projects (via field schools or independent study) in Ohio, Hungary and Yemen
• bioarchaeological field projects in Italy and Turkey
• paleoanthropological field experience at fossil hominid sites in South Africa and paleoecological data analysis
• cultural ecology and human biology field experience in the Amazon and Cameroon
• economic anthropology with an emphasis on Mexico
• a human biological anthropology laboratory with genetic, anthropometric and physiological equipment
• an established research station with habituated non-human primates in the Ivory Coast (West Africa)
• dental anthropology with analysis of human, non-human primate and human dentitions or dental replicas
• a large collection of non-human primate skeleton-dental material from West Africa

The undergraduate student organization, the Anthropology Club, offers a chance to get to know other students and to hear from faculty about research and field study opportunities. 

A variety of employment opportunities exist for a graduate with an anthropology degree, including contract or government archaeologist, admissions counselor, museum curator, mental health consultant, social service worker, laboratory assistant, foreign service agent, international business associate or forensic anthropologist. Graduates in anthropology from Ohio State have found employment in a range of careers in business, health professions, engineering, government, law, education, social services and museums.