Celebrating 45 Years Of Anthropology At Texas A&M

The College of Liberal Arts is celebrating its 45th year of teaching anthropology this month with an open house on Friday (Oct. 21) from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Anthropology Building. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will be a special opportunity for former students and members of the community to get an inside look at the department and to learn about methods used by anthropologists and archaeologists to conduct research.

“This is an exciting year for the Department of Anthropology, a department that focuses on human biological and cultural diversity across time and space,” said Department Head Cynthia Werner. “It has now been 45 years since the first anthropology course was ever taught at Texas A&M by Dr. Vaughn Bryant. This year also marks 40 years of the Nautical Archaeology Program and 30 years of the Ph.D. program in Anthropology. Our event gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past, and to share the continued importance of our research and teaching with former students and members of the public.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore classrooms and laboratories where they can see prehistoric tools, fossil casts, artifacts from underwater excavations, model ships, and more. A demonstration of flintnapping, the making of flaked or chipped stone tools, is planned as well as interactive displays for children.

Anthropology faculty and graduate students will be available to discuss their research and answer questions. Notable faculty who will be present include Darryl de Ruiter, whose discovery of the new human ancestor Homo naledi was No. 2 on Discover magazine’s Top 100 Stories of 2015; Mike Waters, Ted Goebel, and Kelly Graf, whose research is challenging traditional scientific thinking about the early settling of the Americas; and Cemal Pulak, whose study of the oldest shipwreck in the world has broadened our understanding of maritime trade in the Late Bronze Age.

The open house will be held Friday (Oct. 21) from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Anthropology Building. The event is free and open to the public.

This story originally appeared on the Liberal Arts site.