The Center for the Study of the First Americans is part of the Archeology Program in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University. The department offers BA, BS and PhD degrees.

The core Center faculty educate and train graduate and undergraduate students in the classroom, laboratory, and field. When students earn their PhD degree, they are qualified to undertake professional careers in archaeology and to lead the next generation of scholars studying the First Americans.  About half of our graduates staff the faculty at universities and half occupy leadership positions at private archaeological consulting companies, museums, and government agencies.  Two published studies rank the Archeology Program at Texas A&M University seventh in the nation for our success in placing our students in permanent faculty positions at North American universities.

Upon admission, PhD students are fully funded for up to five years, with access to internal funding for conference travel, professional development, pilot research, and dissertation enhancement.

Undergraduate Students work alongside Center faculty and graduate students on research projects in the field and laboratory.  This experience yields essential hands-on training in archaeological and analytical techniques.  Undergraduate students who have worked on Center projects often gain fully- funded admission to competitive graduate programs at other institutions.  Many students practice archaeology for the government or archaeological consulting firms.

Center students also interact and learn from the other prehistoric archeologists in the Archaeology program who are Faculty Affiliates of the Center.

Dr. Heather Thakar, Director Radiocarbon and Stable Isotope Sample Preparation Laboratory & Archaeobotany and Palynology Laboratories, conducts field and laboratory research on domestication in the Neotropical forest of Mexico and Central America.

Dr. Kristine Korzow (Richter), Director Paleoproteomics, ancient DNA, and modern DNA laboratories, is a leading expert in the development of proteomics and zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS).

The Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University in 2019 was ranked seventh in the nation for the placement of PhD Archaeology Graduates among 100 doctoral programs. Click here to read more about the rankings.

For more information about degree programs, see the Department of Anthropology website. Also, please contact us directly if you would like to discuss the program.