About Us

What is Anthropology?

Two anthropologists enthusiastically comparing hominid skull casts within a lab environment — Comparison of hominid fossil casts

Anthropology is a broad and diverse discipline that seeks to better understand the human species in terms of our cultural, behavioral, and biological development through time. Towards this end, the field of anthropology includes comparisons with our closest living relatives - the lemurs, monkeys and apes that, together with us, constitute the zoological Order Primates. The wide scope of anthropology has resulted in the emergence of four sub-disciplines: cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. Cultural anthropology concentrates on the cultural behavior of modern humans. Archaeology represents the study of human cultural and behavioral variation over time investigated through the material culture of past people. Biological anthropology examines humans as biological organisms in an evolutionary framework. This, itself, encompasses a very broad range of topics, including human biology, the study of the behavioral ecology and anatomy of living non-human primates, and the fossil record for primate and human evolution. Linguistics is the study of language and its structure (see Department of Linguistics).

Our Research and Collaborations

The Department of Anthropology includes faculty covering the areas of cultural anthropology, paleolithic archaeology, Southwest Asian archaeology, zooarchaeology, the behavioral ecology and conservation of living primates, evolutionary morphology, brain evolution, primate paleontology, and human evolution.

Stony Brook is at the forefront of exciting anthropological research in the 21st century. Our faculty have diverse interests and our research is cutting-edge. Our active collaborations with faculty in departments and institutes across campus and with researchers around the world provide additional excellent research opportunities for undergraduate students and graduate students in Anthropology. Come and join us!

You are encouraged to explore our website and we hope that you find Stony Brook University and our department to be both exciting and friendly. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.