Anthropology

The Division of Anthropology is concerned with all aspects of human behavior, past, present, and with an eye to the future. Our work is biological, archaeological, socio-cultural and linguistic.
Established in 1873, only four years after the Museum's founding, the Division has acquired over 500,000 objects representing the peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Pacific Islands. As one of the oldest departments of anthropology in the United States, our collections and archives are important resources for the history and continuing work of our discipline.

The American Anthropological Association is the world’s largest association for professional anthropologists, with more than 10,000 members. Based in Washington, D.C., the Association was founded in 1902, and covers all four main fields of anthropology (cultural anthropology, biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology).