The anthropology program provides students with a full understanding of worldwide cultures and customs. Students interested in furthering their studies while part of the program may wish to join the Anthropology Society, a student-organized group of undergraduates.
The Anthropology Society organizes field trips to sites of anthropological and archaeological interest and has various other educational and social functions.
Student Resources
Anthropology Resources
The Anthropology Society and Lambda Alpha, National Anthropology Honorary Society
The Anthropology Society is a student-organized body of undergraduate students interested in various aspects of the discipline. Membership is not limited to anthropology majors. The Society has its own lounge, organizes field trips to sites of anthropological and archaeological interest, and has various other educational and social functions. The Anthropology Society meets during Bengal Pause.
Lambda Alpha, National Anthropology Honorary Society
Tau of New York chapter at Buffalo State
Students with 12 credit hours in Anthropology, an Anthropology major GPA of 3.0 and on overall GPA of 2.5 are invited to join. Students in the Honorary engage in social justice, edutainment, and other anthropological activities in the department. Initiations are held each fall and spring semester.
The Anthropology Lab
The department's facilities include a large well-equipped laboratory and storage rooms for archaeology and biological anthropology. Holdings include human and non-human primate skeletal material; Wenner-Gren and Philadelphia Museum Fossil Man casts; surveying, excavating, and photographic equipment; as well as osteometric and anthropometric instruments
The Student Computer Lab
Currently equipped with four computers, with a laser printer. The lab is open to all Anthropology majors and departmental minors; the combination to the keypad on the door may be obtained from the department office.
The Archaeological Collection
An archaeological collection from the Eaton site is housed in the Anthropology Laboratory. It is the result of seventeen field seasons of excavation directed by Professor Bill Engelbrecht. The site is located in West Seneca and contains a long history of occupation, from the Archaic period through the nineteenth century. In the sixteenth century it was the location of an Iroquoian village. Students with an interest in archaeology are encouraged to work with these materials, either by taking ANT 415 (Seminar in Archaeology) or signing up for an independent project.
Murals
The panels on the walls in and around the Anthropology suite in Buckham Hall are copies of figures from the Upper Paleolithic cave site of Lascaux in France. Experimental archaeology suggests the original images, which are approximately 17,500 years old, were created by blowing pigment onto the rock surface. The animals depicted are red deer and aurochs, the ancestors of modern cattle. These panels were painted by Phyllis Buckley, a Buffalo artist, and were on display at the Buffalo Museum of Science from 1955 to 1997, when they were donated to the Anthropology Department at Buffalo State.
Anthropology Resources in the Library
In addition to many books, journals, and general social science online databases, the E. H. Butler Library contains three important anthropological collections online.
Anthropology Plus: index to journal articles in all areas of anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, and folklore from the late-nineteenth-century to the present.
AnthroSource: A database of peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, and bulletins published by the American Anthropological Association.
eHRAF (Human Relations Area Files): Cross-cultural database containing books, articles, and dissertations on all aspects of cultural and social life worldwide.
Online Anthropology Resources
Resources in Ethnographic Studies
A collection of resources in Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, and Folklife (A Library of Congress Internet Resource Page)