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  • Catharina Laporte receives Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching

      Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students have selected 25 outstanding faculty and staff to be honored with the 2024 university-level Distinguished Achievement Awards. Since 1955, the Distinguished Achievement Awards have been granted to those who exhibit the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M. This year Dr. Catharina Laporte was recognized […]

  • Michael Waters Named Regents Professor

      Dr. Michael Waters was among 14 Texas A&M System faculty members honored with the 2022-2023 Regents Professor Award recognizing exemplary contributions to the A&M System and people of Texas. Read the full story here.  

  • Heather Thakar named a 2023 Montague-CTE Scholar

    The award is given annually to 10 assistant professors based on their early success in and passion for teaching undergraduate students.

  • Shelley Wachsmann Named One of Six Arts and Humanities Fellows for 2023

    Texas A&M University has selected six faculty members as Arts and Humanities Fellows for 2023, the Division of Research announced today. Each fellow will receive a three-year grant totaling $15,000 to support research in the humanities or creative work in the arts.

  • Dr. Michael Waters

    Distinguished Professor Michael Waters Elected as a 2022 AAAS Fellow

    Michael Waters is one of five professors in the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas A&M University that have been elected as 2022 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the most distinguished honors within the scientific community. Waters is cited by the Anthropology section of the AAAS […]

  • Dr. Sheela Athreya named the 2023 recipient of the Robert W. Sussman Award for Scientific Contributions to Anthropology by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

    The Steering Group of Section H (Anthropology) of the AAAS has announced that Dr. Sheela Athreya (Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M) has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Robert W. Sussman Award for Scientific Contributions to Anthropology. “The Sussman Award was established at the 2017 Section H business meeting to recognize meritorious contributions […]

  • European Association of Archaeologists 28th annual meeting in Budapest, Hungary

    Special congratulations to Paloma Cuello del Pozo who was awarded “Best Student Paper” of the conference for her literature review on island archaeology.  Congratulations

  • European Association of Archaeologists 28th annual meeting in Budapest, Hungary

      We are proud of our graduate students who attended the European Association of Archaeologists 28th annual meeting in Budapest, Hungary. These students represented multiple subdisciplines and led conference sessions in their areas of expertise.

  • New Campus Exhibit Honors Past And Present Native American Aggies

    The student-curated exhibit, "HERE: Faces and Voice of Native Aggies," will be on display in the MSC’s Forsyth Galleries through July 29.

  • Anthropology Doctoral Student Perseveres through Pandemic Setback to Earn PhD

    Forced to abandon her dissertation field research in Indonesia, doctoral student Angela Achorn shows extraordinary flexibility and creativity in crafting an entirely new project

  • What Anthropology Brings to the Table

    Anthropology provides students with a firm grounding in the Arts and Sciences, which graduates find invaluable once they embark upon the exciting career opportunities that await them. More importantly, Anthropology helps students discover more than just employment – it helps them establish fulfilling, people-oriented careers where they can make a meaningful difference in their lives […]

  • Dr. Sheela Athreya Named 2021 Texas A&M Presidential Impact Fellow

    Congratulations to Dr. Sheela Athreya on being named a Presidential Impact Fellow for 2021! Presidential Impact Fellows are selected in recognition of excellence in their scholarly work, and for the transformational impact that they are having both at Texas A&M University and beyond. 

  • Partial Skull Discovery Raises New Questions About Human Origins

    Texas A&M anthropology professor is part of a team that discovered a child’s skull believed to be up to 250,000 years old in a South African cave.

  • Tenure Track Assistant Professor Position in Zooarchaeology

    The Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in archaeology, with a specialization in Zooarchaeology.

  • Tenure Track Assistant Professor Position in Maritime Archaeology

    The Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor with a specialization in maritime archaeology.

  • Happy Texas Archaeology Month from Texas A&M University, and from the Anthropology Research Collections!

    It’s finally October, which means it’s that time of the year again! Happy Texas Archaeology Month from Texas A&M University, and from the Anthropology Research Collections! Enjoy our slideshow of all our archaeological student endeavors these past few years! Our experiences encompass both field and lab work, from Texas and beyond!  

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate Position Available

    The Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University is seeking to hire a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on a National Science Foundation grant under the direction of Dr. Jeff Winking. This is a full-time, 24 month, non-tenure-accruing position. Review of applicants will begin immediately, and the position will remain open until filled. The anticipated […]

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate Position Available

    The Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University is seeking to hire a Postdoctoral Research Associate to manage the Bioarchaeology and Genomics (BiG) Laboratory. The appointment will be for one year with the possibility of renewal for a second year. This is a full-time, 12 month, non-tenure-accruing position. Review of applicants will begin August 3, 2021, and the position will remain open until filled. The anticipated start date is September 1, 2021.

  • Professor Alston Thoms, June 18, 1948 — June 4, 2021

    It is with the greatest of sadness that we share the news of the untimely passing of our dear friend and colleague, Alston Thoms, who passed peacefully on the 3rd of June. Alston had been with our department for more than 30 years, and was at the core of our CRM program for many years. His outreach efforts with the Indigenous Peoples of Texas helped to transform archaeology in the state, as did his research into the evolution of plant-food cooking technology. Alston was a kind and caring friend and mentor, and we will miss him deeply.

  • Catharina Laporte named Hullabaloo U Instructor of the Year

    Our very own Catharina Laporte was named as Texas A&M University's first-ever Hullabaloo Instructor of the Year! Congratulations and well-deserved!

  • Distinguished Professor Emeritus George Bass, December 9, 1932 – March 2, 2021

    It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus George Bass, Founder of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and Father of Underwater Archaeology. He influenced generations of Nautical Archaeologists, pioneering the science of archaeological excavation under water. If you are among the thousands of friends, colleagues, students, and enthusiasts who were influenced by the life and legacy of George Bass, please share your photos by sending them to remembergeorge@nauticalarch.org. We will post them online just as soon as we can.

  • Ancient Skeletal Hand Could Reveal Evolutionary Secrets

    A recent discovery by Dr. Cody Prang of the Department of Anthropology provides clues about how early humans began to walk upright and make similar movements that all humans perform today. The research was published in the February 24 issue of Science Advances.

  • Vaughn Bryant

    Regents Professor Vaughn Bryant, October 5, 1940 — January 30, 2021

    It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share this sad news. Our friend, our mentor, our dearest colleague, Dr. Vaughn Bryant, passed away peacefully on the morning of January 30, 2021 after battling one of the most aggressive forms of cancer for the past several years. He will be remembered with the greatest fondness for his kindness of spirit and his generosity of heart. He created our department, made so many careers and futures here possible, and touched the lives of every person he came in contact with during his 50 years in the Department of Anthropology. We will miss him dearly. A memorial scholarship will soon be established in his name. Because of the pandemic, a service has not yet been planned, but we will share more details as soon as we can. Gifts in memory of Dr. Vaughn M. Bryant should be sent to Texas A&M Foundation, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas 77840. For online gifts please copy and paste the following link: https://www.txamfoundation.com/How-to-Give/Honorary-And-Memorial.aspx Please add Vaughn M. Bryant to the note area. Please visit his memorial page here: https://drbryantmemorial.github.io/

  • Texas A&M Department of Anthropology study: Cooling of Earth caused by eruptions, not meteors

    Analysis of sediment found in Hall’s Cave shows volcanic eruptions responsible for cooling of Earth around 13,000 years ago. 

  • Anthropology Faculty Statement on Campus Monuments

      Tradition is at the heart of Aggie culture. As Anthropologists we study culture, and we understand that traditions and monuments are powerful mechanisms of cultural transmission[1]. Culture is learned in a myriad of tangible and intangible ways. Symbolism, ideals, and values bleed into reality through the creation of public memory. Monuments, including statues, represent […]

  • An Open Letter to Our Community in Response to Police Brutality Against African-Americans and a Call to Antiracist Action

    An Open Letter to Our Community in Response to Police Brutality Against African-Americans and a Call to Antiracist Action – from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists

  • Vaughn Bryant

    What We Leave Behind

    Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology, remarks in his editorial article on the journey of Vaughn Bryant, founder of the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M. This article originally appeared on the College of Liberal Arts website.

  • Darryl de Ruiter

    Dialogue with Department Head: Darryl de Ruiter

    Anthropology professor Darryl de Ruiter is stepping into a new role of Head of the Department of Anthropology. In this dialogue, de Ruiter shares why he believes studying fossil evidence for human evolution is relevant for today’s issues, as well as the value of an education in anthropology and what he hopes to do as Department Head.   […]

  • Anthropology PhD Students Find Evidence of Early Human Eating an Entire Rattlesnake

    Two former students, Crystal Dozier and Elanor Sonderman, and one current student, Morgan Smith, analyzed a coprolite as part of a final project. This coprolite turned out to reveal more than expected.   The team found the snakes bones, scales, and fang in the coprolite. Further analysis revealed the fang may have belonged to a […]

  • Ancestry / Genealogy Icon with Family Tree Album Web Header Banner and Icon Set

    Department of Anthropology Symposium

      Pop-Culture Racism? Race, Identity, and the Dangers of Genetic Ancestry Testing   Friday, March 1st 9:30 am – 5 pm Texas A&M University Hotel and Conference Center The Ross Room Abstract for the Symposium Popular conceptions of race are deeply embedded in everyday life. For decades, anthropologists have argued that biological variations among different […]

  • What’s Love Got To Do With It?

      One of Jeff Winking’s recent publications uses a study of marriage among an indigenous group in Nicaragua to question assumptions about relationship quality in existing scholarship on marriage. His research will give light to cross-cultural differences in the nature of marriage. Research on marriage and relationships are often conducted on larger, Western-influenced populations. Dr. […]

  • Dr. Vaughn Bryant Selected As One Of 2017-2018 Regents Professor Award Recipients

      The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents recently awarded Dr. Vaughn Bryant, Professor of Anthropology, with the title of Regents Professor. Dr. Vaughn Byrant, Director of the Palynology Lab, was one of 15 recipients for this award for 2017-2018.  Dr. Bryant was the first faculty member to be hired to teach anthropology at […]

  • Lowering Alamo Cannon Into the Boil Vat

    Salute to the Alamo Conservation

    Texas A&M University’s Alamo cannon conservation project came to a historic conclusion Wednesday as the last of seven battle-used cannons were returned to the Alamo in a changing of the guard ceremony between living historians and members of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. During the “Texas A&M and The Alamo Present: A Salute to […]

  • Wooden Ship-Cart Model from the late 13th to early 12th century BC

    Egyptian Ship Model Sheds Light on Bronze Age Warfare and Religion

    Anthropology professor Shelley Wachsmann wrote a blog for the Getty Museum on the subject of one of his recent books: an ancient ship model from Egypt.

  • A Homo naledi skull, ‘Neo.’ Clockwise from upper left: three-quarter, frontal, superior and left lateral views. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Hawks et al, doi: 10.7554/eLife.24232.

    Faculty Makes List of Discover Magazine Top Stories for 2017

    A research team that included a Texas A&M University anthropologist who determined the fossil remains discovered last year in a South African cave almost certainly coexisted with early Homo sapiens has been named one of Discover magazine’s “Top 100 Stories for 2017.”