Graduate Department of Anthropology

College of Arts and Sciences

Website: https://anthro.fsu.edu

Chair: Peres; Professor: Falk, McCoy, Peres; Associate Professors: Horsburgh, Marrinan, Mehta, Peters; Assistant Professors: Chakrabarti, Shattuck; Associate Curator: Schober; Specialized Faculty: Kowal, Thomas; Professor Emeritus: Pohl

The Department of Anthropology offers graduate education for students with an interest in archaeology, biological anthropology, and cultural anthropology. Faculty members are concentrated on research in the greater Southeastern United States, Mesoamerica, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia. Course work and research experiences are available in prehistoric and historic archaeology, underwater archaeology, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, environmental archeology, climate change and cultural heritage, and osteology.

The Florida State University, through the Department of Anthropology, is the host institution for the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC), which is responsible for archaeological research and collections from U.S. National Park Service installations throughout the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The SEAC collections exceed three million items and span the period from Paleoindian to the twentieth century. SEAC's offices and laboratories are located in Innovation Park, southwest of the main campus.

As the capital of the state, Tallahassee also is home to the Department of State, which is responsible for cultural resources in Florida. The Florida Master Site File, the Bureau of Archaeological Research, the National Register of Historic Places, and Florida Folklife Programs are administered by the Department of State. The U.S. Forest Service, the State of Florida Park Service, and the Florida Public Archaeology Network have offices in Tallahassee. Students have found internships and employment in all these agencies.

Training and field experience are available in archaeology field and lab methods (terrestrial and underwater), biological anthropology, and forensic sciences. Programs sponsored by other Florida State University departments of interest to anthropology students include courses offered in Classical Archaeology (Department of Classics), Geographical Information Systems (Department of Geography), computational forensics (Scientific Computing), historical administration (Department of History), Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies (Department of Art History), ethnomusicology (College of Music), international and multicultural education (College of Education), Digital/Data Humanities (Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities), and Emergency Management and Homeland Security (Center for Disaster Risk Policy).

General Information

Assistantships

To remain eligible for an assistantship after the first academic year, and in each subsequent year, a student must perform the assigned duties satisfactorily as determined by the Graduate Program Director and maintain a “good standing” status. The department's criteria for “good standing” are:

1. the student must not have received a grade below a “B” in any anthropology course;
2. the student must have a satisfactory GA performance evaluation;
3. the student may not have any incomplete grades older than one semester; and
4. the student must pass the departmental master's comprehensive examinations on the first attempt.

Master's students who are not in good standing are not eligible for continued support as a graduate assistant beyond their initial 9-month appointment. In other words, master's students who are not in good standing after their first two semesters in the graduate program will no longer be eligible for departmental funding.

Assistantships are subject to the Constitution and laws of the State of Florida and the United States, the regulations of the University, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement between Florida State University and the United Faculty of Florida - Florida State University - Graduate Assistants United (UFF-FSU-GAU). All graduate assistants at FSU work under the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated by the UFF-FSU-GAU and the Florida State University Board of Trustees. UFF-FSU-GAU is the labor union certified as the exclusive bargaining agent for graduate assistants at FSU. To find out more information about the UFF-FSU-GAU, or to join their action newsletter, visit https://fsugau.org// or email info@fsugau.org.

Departmental Requirements for Master's Degree

Requirements for Admission

The Department of Anthropology offers the thesis-type Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees. Acceptance into the degree program is based on satisfactory revised Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores of 150 on the Quantitative Reasoning section, 150 on the Verbal Reasoning section, and a 3.0 or better on the writing section; an undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better; the applicant's statement of interest and research objectives; three letters of recommendation; and available space within the program. For students whose native language is not English, an official TOEFL score of 80 is required by the University.

Course Work Requirements

Students should review all college-wide degree requirements summarized in the “College of Arts and Sciences” section of this Bulletin. Each student seeking a master's degree in the Department of Anthropology must satisfy the following specific course requirements:

Completion of a minimum of thirty-one semester hours of graduate course credits, to include twenty-four hours of graded graduate credit with a “B–” or better in each course (i.e., not to include courses taken S/U). Eighteen hours must be anthropology courses and all hours must be 5000-level courses. Special permission may be given to credit 4000-level courses toward this requirement in cases where there is not a 5000-level equivalent. The maximum number of credit hours for the Anthropology master's degree is 70.

1. Each student is required to take the following core courses:
   • ANG 5117 Core Seminar in Archaeology (3)
   • ANG 5493 Core Seminar in Cultural Anthropology (3)
   • ANG 5513 Core Seminar in Physical Anthropology (3)
   • ANG 5002 Proseminar (1) should be taken during the first semester of the student's graduate studies or as soon thereafter as possible.
2. For the MA, completion of six semester hours of graduate credit in the humanities at the 5000 level. For the MS, completion of six hours in a related science field is recommended but not required.

Students must also register for ANG 8966: Master's Comprehensive Examination (0) during the Spring semester of their first year in the program.

Completion of ANG 5971: Master's Thesis (1–6) (minimum of six semester hours; a maximum of six hours may be counted toward completion of credit hour requirements for the degree).

During the semester in which the thesis is completed, students must register for ANG 5976: Master's Thesis Defense (0).

Fieldwork: FSU Anthropology faculty offer terrestrial field schools and expect and encourage graduate students to enroll in them.

Register of Professional Archaeologists

Students concentrating in archaeology are encouraged to read the current standards of the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA). It is expected that students will keep documentation of their field and lab work experiences so that they may successfully apply for certification at the completion of the master's degree. Below are the basic requirements for RPA membership. Additional information and application instructions can be found at https://rpanet.org.

There are four basic requirements to become a member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists:

3. The applicant must have an advanced degree (such as an MA, MS, PhD, or DSc) from an accredited institution in archaeology, anthropology, art history, classics, history, or other germane discipline with a specialization in archaeology.
4. As part of that advanced degree, the applicant must have designed and executed an archaeological study and have reported on that research in the form of a master's thesis and/or PhD dissertation. The thesis or dissertation must show a substantive data analysis by the applicant directed toward an explicit archaeological research problem.
5. The applicant must accept the responsibilities and standards described in the Code of Conduct, Standards of Research Performance, and Grievance Procedures of the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
6. If the applicant has an advanced degree as described above, but the thesis/dissertation did not include specific research on an archaeological topic and a substantive data analysis on that topic, and the applicant can document a similar research project with data analysis equivalent to that required for a thesis or dissertation through another report or publication, application can still be made by use of the documentation of such other reports or publications.

Standards of Performance

The department is responsible for ensuring that students meet standards of behavior that are congruent with expectations of the anthropological profession, as outlined in the American Anthropological Association's Principles of Professional Responsibility, the Society for American Archaeology's Principles of Archaeological Ethics, and the Register of Professional Archaeologists' Codes of Ethics & Professional Standards.

Students are also expected to comply with the FSU Academic Honor Policy (https://fda.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/imported/storage/original/application/0ab8e9de6a98c1377d68de9717988bda.pdf) and the FSU Student Conduct Code (https://dsst.fsu.edu).

Academic Performance Standards

A student is expected to:

1. Maintain required grades for their academic program.
2. Correct any deficiencies related to academic probation within one semester.
3. Meet the generally accepted standards of professional conduct, ethics, personal integrity, and emotional stability required for practice. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: appropriate and respectful behavior with peers, faculty, staff, and professionals outside the university.
4. Consistently demonstrate effective interpersonal skills.
5. Consistently demonstrate respect and responsibility in matters of punctuality and presentation of self.
6. Fully meet the academic, personal, and professional standards set by FSU's Academic Honor Policy and Student Code of Conduct, the American Anthropological Association, the Society for American Archaeology, and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
7. Consistently demonstrate abilities at an expected level in the areas of verbal and written communication skills.

Research Compliance and Integrity

All research must comply with federal, state, and local research regulations. These may include, but are not limited to: conflicts of interest, crowdfunding, use of drones, export controls, research data, research misconduct, responsible conduct of research, and human subjects committee. The current FSU policies on research compliance are available from the Office of Research Compliance Programs (ORCP): https://research.fsu.edu/research-compliance.

University and College of Arts and Sciences Requirements

Students pursuing a thesis-type master's degree must complete the following university and college requirements. Please see your departmental advisor for additional departmental requirements.

1. Total hours: Minimum thirty, of which at least eighteen must be taken on a letter-graded basis.
2. Time limit: Master's students must complete all requirements for the degree within seven years of beginning coursework. (A student starting in Fall 2016 would have until the end of Summer 2023 to complete the master's degree.)
3. GPA: A graduate student must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative graduate grade-point average (GPA) to be eligible for the degree.
4. Thesis hours/final term registration: Student must successfully complete a minimum of six hours of thesis credit and must be enrolled in a minimum of two hours of thesis credit during each term in which they are working on their thesis. This includes the term in which they graduate (even if they have already completed the minimum of six hours).
5. Thesis defense: Students writing a thesis must register for Thesis Defense and have a grade of “P” posted. Students should only register for defense once. If defense is not completed the term of registration, the grade will remain “I” (Incomplete) until successfully defended.

Special Master of Arts (MA) requirements: In addition to the requirements listed above, candidates for the Master of Arts degree must meet the following requirements:

1. Proficiency in a foreign language demonstrated by satisfactory performance on the Graduate Reading Knowledge exam, or certification by the appropriate language department as proficient, or completion of twelve semester hours in a foreign language with an average grade of “B”, or four years of a single language in high school.
2. Six or more semester hours of graduate credit in the following fields: art; classical language, literature, and civilization; English; history; humanities; modern languages and linguistics; music; philosophy; religion; and theatre.

Departmental Master's Comprehensive Examination

The faculty members of each subfield will work together to create the format and standard set of exam questions. All subfield faculty members will be responsible for grading the exams from their respective subfield within 15 days of the completion of the comprehensive exams.

Comprehensive exams will be taken as follows: Archaeology and Cultural will be taken at the beginning of the Spring semester of the student's first year (this assumes the student completed the corresponding Graduate Core Seminars the previous semester); the Physical comprehensive exam will be taken at the end of the Spring semester in which the student takes the Graduate Physical Anthropology Core Seminar.

Students will enroll in ANG 8966 Master's Comprehensive Exams in the Spring semester in which they take the exams. The Graduate Program Director will be the faculty of record.

Students must pass all three comprehensive exams to progress to the prospectus and thesis stage.

If a student fails any exam, they will have the option for one more attempt at each failed exam. The student must re-take each failed exam within 45 days of the first attempt, at a date and time agreed upon by the student, Graduate Program Director, and subfield faculty members. Faculty members of the subfield will write new exam questions for the re-take exam and grade them within 15 days.

Students who fail any portion of their comprehensive exams on their first attempt will be placed on departmental probation and will not be eligible for funding in the subsequent academic semester.

If a student fails the same comprehensive exam twice they will not be able to remain in the graduate program.

Graduate Reading Lists

Graduate reading lists in cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology are included as part of the graduate handbook.

Schedule of Classes

Usually by mid-semester, the department staff assembles the schedule of classes for the upcoming semester. The list will be available on-line by the university; however, the department version is available earlier and may be obtained from the Graduate Director.

A one-year proposed schedule of classes is included in the graduate handbook to facilitate planning. Please note however, that courses can change depending on faculty schedules and the teaching needs of the department. Some classes are offered with greater frequency than others. Many classes are on a two-to-three-year rotation.

Plan of Course Work

The student, with his or her faculty advisor, should plot out several years of course work using the two-year proposed schedule of courses. This process should begin early in the Fall semester and should be updated or revised each semester. A copy of the form is included in the graduate handbook.

Thesis

The student shall choose a thesis committee consisting minimally of his or her major advisor and two additional regular faculty members, one of whom may be from another department within the university. Following the successful completion of the comprehensive examination, the student will present, within three months, a thesis prospectus to be approved and signed by his or her committee and placed on file in the department. This prospectus will contain a description of the proposed research and whatever other information and materials the student's committee deems appropriate. The student will work with his/her committee to complete the thesis and meet for an oral defense of the thesis.

Graduate Students with an Interest in Underwater Archaeology

Underwater archaeology at FSU is focused upon the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of inundated terrestrial sites, and therefore is methodologically oriented towards geoarchaeology and earth sciences research.

Students entering the Department of Anthropology to earn the Master of Arts or Master of Science degree are advised that courses in underwater archaeology are available, but these courses and technical preparation in this specialty will require additional time in the degree program. The usual course load for graduate students is twelve credit hours per semester. Most courses provide three hours credit, but techniques and field courses may carry more credit.

A minimum of thirty-one semester hours is required for the MA or MS degree. Students with no previous experience in either terrestrial archaeology or diving techniques can expect to graduate with significantly more (field and dive) hours than the average student.

Students who wish to participate in diving must be certified as an AAUS Science Diver through the Academic Diving Program at FSU. Students must have current First Aid and CPR training including training in AED and Oxygen Administrator training.

Students with no previous diving preparation are advised to take a diving certification course during the summer before admission to graduate studies at Florida State University or to take the PEN 1136 course for elementary diving certification during the first semester of registration (Fall). Because the PEN course is a 1000-level undergraduate course, it must be taken in addition to the regular course load. Tuition waivers, available to graduate students with assistantships or fellowships, do not apply to courses at this level.

Students with basic diving certification must, after admission to graduate studies, be evaluated by the Academic Diving Program as a first step in becoming certified as an AAUS Science Diver. FSU offers the following course for students wishing to become a certified AAUS Science Diver in order to take underwater archaeology courses or to participate in underwater archaeology courses: BSC 5476C, Introduction to Scientific Diving (3).

Students with no previous terrestrial archaeological field school experience are advised to enroll in a summer field school prior to entering graduate studies at Florida State University or enroll in the department Field School in Archaeology (ANG 5824, 9 hours credit) as soon as appropriate for their courses of study.

Definition of Prefix

ANG—Anthropology: Graduate

Graduate Courses

ANG 5002. Proseminar (1). (S/U grade only). This course is intended to be taken during the first semester of the student's graduate studies. The course is designed to acquaint the graduate student with the organization of anthropology as a profession and provide basic bibliographic tools and related anthropology skills.

ANG 5074. Seminar in Geospatial Archaeology (3). This course focuses on the relationships between humans and their environments, between rivers and cities, and between the natural world and the built environment. Using Geographical Information Systems (GSI) as a set of methods, this course provides the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for engaging in 21st-century archaeological research. Emphasis is on geospatial technology for fieldwork and analysis.

ANG 5091. Seminar in Research Methods (3). This course acquaints students with the elements of scientific research designs as used in anthropology including research designs, consideration of the variations for field work and for laboratory/library projects. It also considers the format for the publication of results. Each of the elements of research design is considered and a variety of readings are utilized to understand the basic elements.

ANG 5111. Forager Societies (3). Prerequisite: Graduate status. This course focuses on human societies throughout the world that have lived by hunting and gathering wild resources. The course examines specific subsistence strategies of a wide range of hunter-gatherer groups, relative to their technology, social structure, territory, demography and interaction with food producers in both the archaeological record and through ethnography.

ANG 5115r. Seminar in Archaeology (3). In this course, seminar topics vary from semester to semester. Past topics have included paleodemography, quantitative methods, research design, and others. May be repeated within the same semester. Fifteen credit hours maximum.

ANG 5116. Regional Analysis in Archaeology (3). This is an advanced graduate-level seminar designed to explore archaeological approaches to modeling regional social processes. The course is restricted to graduate students who have had some training in archaeological methods and theory at the graduate level. The course considers theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to understanding anthropological processes that are best studied with the region as the primary unit of analysis. The course also introduces students to classic and contemporary literature related to regional models in geography, anthropology and sociology, and assesses how those models have been applied in specific archaeological contexts. Students are required to gain hands-on experience conducting their own analysis of archaeological data at the regional level. May be repeated within the same semester. Fifteen credit hours maximum.

ANG 5117. Core Seminar in Archaeology (3). This course is designed to guide students to the essential works in archaeology of different parts of the world, whether they are classic readings or cutting-edge research.

ANG 5126. Zooarchaeology (3). This course is a practical introduction to the analysis of animal (and some plant) remains from archaeological sites. This course uses lecture, laboratory experience, and readings to introduce the student to the interpretation of subsistence remains and their implications for the reconstruction of prehistoric environments, ritual or ceremonial usage, technological requirements for capture and processing, chronological affiliation, human economics (both prehistoric and historic), and dietary choice.

ANG 5127. Advanced Zooarchaeology (3). Prerequisite: ANG 5126. This seminar is dedicated to learning and understanding data, analysis methods, and common software to assist with analysis and interpretations. This class covers in-depth all aspects of data collection, analysis, reporting and long-term preservation, including: structuring datasets.

ANG 5130. Fundamentals of Underwater Archaeology (3). Prerequisite: Graduate status. This course surveys the history, theory, methods, and problems of underwater archaeology, with attention given to the types of investigations and environments in which underwater archaeology is conducted and to the field's particular contributions to anthropology.

ANG 5145. Origins of Complex Society (3). This course examines the evolution of ancient complex societies and theories of state origins using a comparative method involving ecological, economic and social approaches to investigate their origins, collapse and sustainability.

ANG 5155. Regional Archaeology: Southeast United States (3). This course offers a critical evaluation of special problems and processes of cultural evolution and adaptation in the southeast.

ANG 5172. Historic Archaeology (3). This course serves as an introduction to the goals, methods, and theoretical base of this relatively new subfield of archaeology. Particular emphasis is placed on acculturation, ethnicity, archaeological methodology, and documentary research. Regional emphasis is on North America and the Caribbean.

ANG 5193r. Seminar in Archaeology (3). In this course, seminar topics vary from semester to semester. Past topics have included paleodemography, quantitative methods, research design, and others. May be repeated to a maximum of six semester hours.

ANG 5194r. Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological Research (3). This course explores the principles of analysis and interpretation while bridging the gap between archaeological field data and activities that produced the data. May be repeated within the same semester. Fifteen credit hours maximum.

ANG 5240. Anthropology of Religion (3). This course addresses the cultural conceptions of supernatural reality, with emphasis on comparative understanding of myth and ritual, the religious experience, and religious evolution and revitalization movements.

ANG 5266. Economic and Ecological Approaches in Anthropology (3). This course is an introduction to the issues and literature of economic anthropology. The course explores exchange theory, gift and commodity distinctions, and the anthropological use of world-systems theory.

ANG 5275. Human Conflict: Theory and Resolution (3). This course provides an introduction to the nature and theories of human conflict from the interdisciplinary perspectives of biological and cultural anthropology, political economy, and the history of warfare. Particular emphasis is placed upon cross-cultural applications.

ANG 5426. Kinship and Social Organization (3). This course reviews historical and contemporary anthropological approaches to the study of kinship and social organization by reading and discussing ethnographies of family, marriage, and society throughout the world. Topics include classic theories of descent and alliance, symbolic approaches to kinship and social organization, genetic definitions of human relations, and the impact of new reproductive technologies on definitions of family, bringing the vast ethnographic literature on kinship to bear upon ongoing debates about definitions of family and society.

ANG 5471. Technology and Social Change (3). This course introduces the student to anthropological approaches to the study of technology and examines the relationship between technology and social change throughout human prehistory and history. The course explores the systemic relationship between technological developments and economics, politics, and social structure in both the past and present, using technology as a reference point for discussing important themes of anthropological and archaeological interest.

ANG 5491r. Seminar in Social Anthropology (3). May be repeated to a maximum of six semester hours within the same term.

ANG 5493. Core Seminar in Cultural Anthropology (3). This course introduces students to the body of literature in cultural anthropology, including the corpus of knowledge, the basic concepts, major scholars, and the debates over current issues in the profession.

ANG 5511r. Seminar in Physical Anthropology (3). May be repeated to a maximum of six semester hours within the same term.

ANG 5513. Core Seminar in Physical Anthropology (3). This course is a fundamental guide to the nature and progress of physical and biological anthropology, and presents the primary topics. It includes both historic and modern perspectives.

ANG 5580. Biocultural Adaptation and Paleodemography (3). This course focuses on the methods and strategies of biocultural and paleodemographic analysis. While it uses substantial bodies of archaeological data, the course is primarily a physical anthropology class. The course stresses the identification of appropriate data sets and methods.

ANG 5581. Method and Theory in Human Biology (3). This course provides an overview of current methods and theory in human biology research, with emphasis on adaptation, variation, and biocultural interactions in living human populations. This course also trains students in field methods for assessment of nutrition, growth and development, stress, and health, providing training in systematic ethnographic methods and modeling biocultural interactions.

ANG 5675. Core Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology (3). This course offers a broad survey of anthropological linguistics, from the origin and characteristics of human language and its relation to the other animal communication systems, to language structure and its description, principles of linguistic fieldwork, and historical/comparative linguistics. Other topics covered include the following: the interaction of language and culture; sociolinguistics; the ethnography of communication; ethnoscience; language acquisition; language policy and bilingual education; and linguistic prehistory.

ANG 5677r. Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology (3). In this course, topics offered include strong methodological and theoretical components, combined with in-depth coverage of an area or thematic subject. May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours within the same term.

ANG 5801. Field Methods in Cultural Anthropology (3). This course covers the methods and theories associated with cultural anthropological field work, from research design and project preparation to the presentation of reports based on research. Includes supervised field work projects.

ANG 5824r. Anthropological Fieldwork: Archaeology (3–9). The course focuses on the use of methodology learned in seminars. May be repeated to a maximum of nine credit hours.

ANG 5835r. Underwater Archaeological Methods (3–9). Prerequisite: ANG 5117. This field-based course is a technical introduction to underwater archaeology, including excavation, site discovery and sampling strategies, process and history of sea level rise and site preservation, and conservation of material recovered from underwater sites. May be repeated to a maximum of nine (9) credit hours.

ANG 5905r. Directed Individual Study (1–3). (S/U grade only). May be repeated to a maximum of twelve semester hours within the same term.

ANG 5906r. Directed Individual Study (1–3). This course allows students to study individually, under the direction of a faculty member. Topics vary and are usually selected on an individual basis. May be repeated within the same semester. Fifteen credit hours maximum.

ANG 5910r. Supervised Research (1–3). (S/U grade only). May be repeated to a maximum of three semester hours.

ANG 5940r. Supervised Teaching (1–3). (S/U grade only). May be repeated to a maximum of three semester hours.

ANG 5942r. Internship in Museum Studies (3–9). In this internship, collaborating museums and curatorial institutions provide students with a variety of professional work experiences, under the supervision of the student's academic advisor and a collaborating museum professional. May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours within the same term.

ANG 5971r. Master's Thesis (1–6). (S/U grade only). In this course, six semester hours of credit are required.

ANG 5976r. Master's Thesis Defense (0). (P/F grade only.)

ANG 6119. Geoarchaeology (3). This applied course covers the contribution of earth sciences to the interpretation of archaeological contexts. This course will consist of field, lab and lecture components. Emphasis is placed on the methods of geoarchaeology and the applications of selecting earth science fields to archaeological problems. Field trips are a required component of the course in order to complete field descriptions and sampling.

ANG 6908r. Directed Independent Study (1–3). May be repeated to a maximum of six semester hours within the same term.

ANG 6930r. Advanced Seminar in Anthropology (3). In this course, topics vary. May be repeated to a maximum of twenty-four semester hours within the same term.

ANG 6980r. Dissertation (1–12). May be repeated to a maximum of twelve semester hours within the same term.

ANG 8964. Doctoral Qualifying Examination (0). (P/F grade only.)

ANG 8966r. Master's Comprehensive Examination (0). (P/F grade only.)

ANG 8985. Defense of Dissertation (0). (P/F grade only.)