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Anthropology
Anthropology Librarian: Robert Ridinger
Founders Memorial 15E
815-753-1367
rridinger@niu.edu
| Web Resources | Archaeological Sites | Professional Organizations |
| Databases | Bibliographies | Museums |
| Research Centers | Periodicals | Specific Cultural Groups and Regions |
Web Resources
- After Columbus: Four-hundred Years of Native American Portraiture
- American Museum of Natural History Research Library: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History
- Ancient Writings Revealed
- Anthropological Index Online - Published by the Royal Anthropological Institute and maintained by the Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing. Photocopies of most indexed articles are available for research or private study from the mailing address of the Museum of Mankind. The homepage gives details of coverage, which currently includes full indexing for 1957 to 2004 and provides links to CSAC, RAI, and the search page itself.
- Anthropology in the News - A listing of stories related to one or more subfields of anthropology published on the web by ABC, CNN, USA Today, the Washington Post, and other sources.
- Anthropology-Review Database (ARD) - A regularly updated body of monographic reviews maintained since 1997 by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Buffalo. Coverage includes items written by ARD contributors and texts posted elsewhere on the internet.
- Archaeology Magazine
- Becoming Human: Palaeoanthropology, Evolution and Human Origins
- C. Szwedzicki: The North American Indian Works
- Center for a Public Anthropology - An exploration of the ability of anthropology to effectively address problems and larger social issues beyond the discipline.
- Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science
- Cradle of Humankind
- ECAI: Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
- Encyclopedia Mythica: An Encyclopedia on Mythology, Folklore, and Legend
- Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia
- Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942
- Global Gateway: World Culture and Resources
- International Indian Treaty Council
- Language Policy Website - Maintained by an independent writer with a background in education, this site covers the politics of language in the U.S., efforts to save endangered languages, and bilingual education.
- Music and Anthropology
- National Park Service: Antiquities Act
- NativeWeb
- Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa
- Research Resources for the Social Sciences - The site is well organized into 18 different categories, including general resources, reference materials, data archives, and news resources. Each category provides links to web sites including e-journals, listservs, and full-text resources. Another useful category, "Aggressive Pattern Searches," provides links to information about searching the web, effective search strategies, and guides to using Internet search engines.
- Resources in Ethnographic Studies - This impressive Library of Congress resource is valuable to all levels of users including the general public, but particularly compelling for scholars in anthropology, ethnomusicology, and folklife.
- Sacred Destinations
- Te Puna Web Directory: A Directory to New Zealand and Pacific Island Web sites
- Tennessee Archaeology Net - A detailed site created by Dr. Kevin Smith at Middle Tennessee State University, this resource provides an array of links to full-text bibliographies on topics including historical archaeology, lithics, dating, GIS/remote sensing, bioarchaeology, foodways and human origins.
- The Archaeology Channel Video Guide - The website offers a wide range of educational resources, reports, and other relevant materials. One of their most fascinating resources is their collection of video programs. Visitors can use the "Video Guide", found on the homepage, to view over 50 ALI programs in their entirety. Most of the programs are under an hour in length, and they include profiles of ancient mound builders in Louisiana, the history of an abandoned farming community in North Carolina, and excavation work at the Foguang Temple in China.
- The Complete Work of Charles Darwin
- The Fig and the Spade: Countering the Deceptions of Treasure Hunters
- UWB-Anthropology - An education site useful for anthropology due to its detailed breakdown by 50 disciplines, including ethnososicology and film/photography.
- VisualAnthropology.net
- Voice of the Shuttle - A humanities site with links to material in both anthropology and archaeology.
- We the People: American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States: Census 2000 Special Reports
- World Heritage
Archaeological Sites
- 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan - One thousand fifty-five photographs taken in the opening years of the twentieth century by the expedition are reproduced here. Valuable for gauging the degree of change in this region, as some of these sites were drowned by the Aswan Dam and others, like Abu Simbel, lifted beyond the new shoreline.
- African Diaspora Archaeology Network
- Akkerman Fortress Project
- Ancient Observatories: Chaco Canyon
- Ancient Observatories: Chichen Itza
- Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land
- Artefacts Canada
- Ceren Web Resource - An agricultural village in El Salvador that was buried by volcanic ash for fourteen centuries, creating unusually detailed conditions of preservation of perishable artifacts. The web site explores the body of material recovered and the overall plan of the site.
- Ename 974
- Florida's Shipwrecks: 300 Years of Maritime History
- History: The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site
- Interactive Dig Sagalassos: City in the Clouds
- Interactive Dig: El Carrizal
- Jamestown Rediscovery
- Kusado Sengen, Excavated Medieval Town in Japan - Data on a medieval town in the Hiroshima prefecture of Japan at the mouth of the Ashida River, where excavation has been underway since 1961.
- Megiddo Expedition
- Mohenjo-daro
- Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption
- Queen Anne's Revenge: Investigating, Interpreting & Preserving the Remains of Blackbeard's Flagship
- Teotihuacan: The City of the Gods - A colorful site on the great central Mexican city, focusing on the Pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Feathered Serpent, the Ciudadela and the Avenue of the Dead. A link to the Centro de Estudios Teotihuacanos is provided.
- The Assos Excavations
- The Giza Archives Project
- The Official Roman Baths Museum Web Site in the City of Bath
- The West Bank and East Jerusalem Archaeological Database Project
- Traditions of the Sun: Chaco Culture National Historical Park
- Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation - This site plans to place online the complete records of Howard Carter's work at the pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. A database of artifacts found in the tomb and the full text of field diaries by Carter and A.C. Mace and selected photographs are available.
- Unlocking a Civil War Prison: Johnson's Island Interactive Dig
- Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks
- WPA/TVA Archaeological Photographs
- Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake
- Written In Stone - Inscriptions from the National Museum of Saudi Arabia.
Professional Organizations
- American Anthropological Association - The homepage of the most prominent professional organization for anthropologists in the world.
- American Association of Museums
- American Society of Primatologists - An educational organization dedicated to the gathering and exchanging of information about the primate species. Interests range from ecology and behavior to captive management, conservation and virology.
- Association for Environmental Archaeology
- Canadian Archaeological Association - Useful as a general overview of activity in this discipline in Canada. An index to the publication series of the Association, beginning in 1969, is included.
- Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology - Researchers will find the two sections of this page; "Physical Anthropology in Canada" and "Net Resources to Physical Anthropology" of interest.
- Council for British Archaeology - The homepage of the Council for British Archaeology, whose mission is to inform the public "of issues and events" within its field. Links to the full-text of British Archaeology (with a two month time lag for each issue) and CBA Briefing and a list of current Council projects are provided.
- Cultural Survival - A non-profit organization founded in 1972 to defend the human rights and cultural autonomy of indigenous peoples and oppressed ethnic minorities. A new online journal Active Voices may be reached from this page.
- National Association of State Archaeologists - This site covers laws, procedures, educational programs, current research, and a directory of professionals for the U.S., Puerto Rico, America Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
- Royal Anthropological Institute of GreatBritain and Ireland - The oldest anthropological organization in the world, founded in 1843. Notable features include content pages to the Institute's Journal and access to Anthropological Index from the late 1960s to date.
- Society for American Archaeology - An intercultural organization funded in 1934 and dedicated to the protection, interpretation, and research of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. The full-text of the Principles of Archaeological Ethics is available here.
- Society for Applied Anthropology - Founded in 1941 "to promote the investigation of the principles of human behavior and the application of these principles to contemporary issues and problems." News from the field and reports from the American Indian issues committee are among the features of this page.
- Society for Archaeological Sciences - A forum for communication among scholars applying methods from the physical sciences to archaeology and the assessment by the archaeological community of the problems and potential offered by its approach. A special feature is the links to sites on archaeometry.
- Society for California Archaeology - An excellent example of the type of site mounted by archaeological societies
- Society for Economic Anthropology - This organization takes as its field of study "understanding diversity and change in the economic system of the world." Extracts from the society newsletters are included.
- Society for Historical Archaeology - Formed in 1967, the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) is the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400-present). The main focus of the society is the era since the beginning of European exploration. Geographically, the society emphasizes the New World, but also includes European exploration and settlement in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Databases
- ABZU: Guide To Resources For The Study Of the Ancient Near East Available on the Internet - Sponsored by the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute of Chicago since 1994, this site provides access to the increasing amount of data on the web dealing with the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia and other lands of the region. Useful features are listings of relevant journals which have electronic editions (some full text), online library catalogs, museum collections, and an index by archaeological site name.
- Archaeological Data Service Digital Library - Based in Great Britain, this set of 350,000 records from 15 countries, providing detailed maps showing the relative archaeological activity and records for specific regions. Searches available by place and site name. Datasets accessible cover dating, artifact collections, and texts. Digital Archives from excavation and fieldwork - the full text of a British publication on "the best way to create and document digital materials produced in the course of fieldwork and to preserve it. . .for future use." Very useful as a practical guide for field archaeology.
- Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C, from the Mediterranean to the Indus - This colorful site was created as a supplement to the exhibit of the same name presented at the Metropolitan Museum in 2003. Some two dozen examples of Third Millennium B.C. art from an area stretching from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean across Iran and Central Asia to the Indus Valley are presented, some in more than one section. The artifacts are arranged by eight themes ranging from masterpieces such as the famous Standard of Ur, through cities, their rulers and the gods to writing systems, seals and styles of clothing and personal dress.
- Bibliography of Dendrochronology
- Coombspapers Social Sciences Research Data Bank - "An extensive archive of research focused on the study of cultural anthropology and the social sciences."
- Darwin Correspondence Project
- Digital Archives from Excavation and Fieldwork: Guide to Good Practice
- Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Ethnologue is a catalog of more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries. This database is produced by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an organization that conducts research on both written and unwritten languages and whose goal is to promote cross-cultural communication and develop usable literature in the form of dictionaries, grammars, and Bible translations.
- Ethnomathematics Digital Library
- GenBank - Sequence data on the human and other genomes.
- I Love Languages - More than 2400 web-based resources related to language and literature - the linguistics section is most applicable to anthropology.
- Linkages Projects - "An effort to assemble a large database of kinship data sets and genealogies from around the world as recorded by anthropologists."
- National Anthropological Archives & Human Studies Film Archives - Housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the NAA site lists anthropological correspondence, papers, photos, film, works of art, and artifacts available, for study by appointment at the Smithsonian Institution.
- National Archaeological Database, (National Park Service) - Born out of a congressional directory "to improve access to archaeological activities nationwide." This site contains 240,000 reports on archaeological planning and investigation, mostly of limited circulation. The full-text of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is available here as well.
- Primate Info Net - Housed at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center in Madison, this site offers links to homepages of primate study centers, wildlife sanctuaries, and scientific societies involved with primatology.
- UCSC Genome Bioinformatics
Bibliographies
- Archaeological Resource Guide for Europe - A collection of 1,100 hypertext links from 38 countries dealing with current archaeological communication and information resources across Europe.
- Archaeology At Cahokia - A subsection of the homepage for the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, this link provides a partial bibliography of published materials on the major urban centre.
- ARCHNET: WWW Virtual Library of Archaeology - The best single site on the web for archaeology, created on July 1, 1995 at the University of Connecticut. Topics covered are subject areas (such as archaeometry, ceramics, lithics, and preservation), museums, academic departments, regional archaeology, and a "featured site" each month. Uncataloged Internet sites are also listed.
- British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography - Maintained by Britain's Archaeological Data service, this resource covers all materials on this topic published before 1992 in a 100,000 item database beginning in 1695 AD. Post-1967 references may include abstracts.
- The "Looting Question" Bibliography: Web and Literary Resources on the Archaeological Politics of Private Collecting, Commercial Treasure Hunting, Looting, and "Professional" Archaeology - Web and library resources on the archaeological politics of private collecting, commercial treasure hunting, looting, and "professional" archaeology.
Museums
- Bishop Museum Ethnology Database
- Canadian Museum of Civilization: Collections Storage
- Illinois State Museum - Students in anthropology will find the "collections" section and the link to the Dickson Mounds Museum most useful.
- Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
- Musée Achéménide
- National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
- Oriental Institute (University of Chicago) - Founded by James Henry Breasted (the first American to receive a doctorate in Egyptology) in 1919, the institute has long been recognized as the center for research on the ancient Near East. A series of archaeological maps of the area will be added in 1998. The full texts of annual reports beginning with 1991 is currently available.
- Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
- The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
- University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - Anthropologists will find the detailed listings of current exhibits, projects in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Mesoamerica, North America, the Middle/Near East, and Mediterranean, and a review of current research projects most useful at this massive illustrated site.
Research Centers
- African Studies Internet Resources
- Alaska Native Language Center
- American Folklife Center - This specialized research faculty (part of the Library of Congress) was created in 1976 with the mandate to collect, preserve and analyze Americas folk cultures. Links to the Archives of Folk Music, Center Publications, and the essay "American Folklife: A Commonwealth of Cultures" are among the features of this site.
- Archaeological Research Institute (Arizona State University) - The institute was founded in 1991 at ASU with a charge to specialize in collection preservation, research associated with the archaeological research, and public education. Links include the 3D Scanning Project for artifacts.
- Arctic Studies Center - A well-designed, easy-to-use site filled with attractive illustrations. A simple search engine allows the user further investigations of the Center's resources and provides access to specific elements of the exhibits that lead to additional details on Arctic peoples and the cultures.
- Caribbean Primate Research Center - Founded as the Cayo Santiago rhesus monkey colony in 1938, this primate site offers a bibliography of behavioral and biological research publications (1939-1996) data on the two field populations, and the massive primate skeletal collection.
- Center for Applied Linguistics - A nonprofit organization of scholars using the techniques of linguistics and allied fields to identify language-related problems.
- Center for Archaeological Investigation, (SIU) - One of the rare and larger active centers for archaeological field works and development of the discipline in the United States.
- Center for Social Anthropology and Computing - A British page involved with research in various subdisciplines of social anthropology where computer-based methods may be appreciated.
- Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures
- Doris Ulmann Photograph Collection
- Duke Lemur Center - The Center's mission is "to provide research and understanding of prosimians and their natural habitat . . . and sustaining global bio-diversity."
- Florida Folklife Collection, The
- Institute of Nautical Archaeology
- Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, (Oxford) - The largest graduate anthropology department in the United Kingdom. Staff research interests emphasize the ethnography of the non-Euro-American world. Visitors to the page should review the documents listed under "ISCA Web Projects" for further inf
- International Dunhuang Project - An international cooperative effort to make available over 100,000 images of paintings, manuscripts and other artifacts from Dunhuang and other siteso n the Silk Road of Central Asia.
- Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation - Established in 1977, the Institute is dedicated to wildlife research, conservation of habitats, and researching and publicizing the unique states and special needs of chimpanzees.
- National Anthropological Archives & Human Studies Film Archives - Housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the NAA site lists anthropological correspondence, papers, photos, film, works of art, and artifacts available, for study by appointment at the Smithsonian Institution.
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
- TAY Project: The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - A central inventory begun in 1993 documenting all archaeological sites within Turkey to create a systematic archive and carry out a survey of the country to verify new and older data.
- The Genographic Project
- The Rosetta Project - The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone. In this updated iteration, our goal is a meaningful survey and near permanent archive of 1,000 languages.
- University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute
Periodicals
- Aerial Archaeology Newsletter - The first issue of a newsletter produced by a firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This site offers a section "Aerial Archaeology News" which includes links to further web sites and a short course on aerial photography and remote sensing.
- Andean Past - A peer-reviewed journal issued irregularly since 1987. This page at the University of Maine includes complete tables of contents for all back issues.
- Anthropological Linguistics - A link to the index pages for the past ten years of this important linguistic periodical.
- Bulletin of Information on Computing and Anthropology - Begun in 1984, this periodical is issued by the Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing at the University of Kent at Carterbury. Full text issues available at this site cover the period up to 1992.
- Internet Archaeology - An electronic journal produced by the Archaeology Data Services, (a project of the Archaeology Department at the University of York), offering access to the tables of contents and homepages of each issue entry since its inception in 1996.
- Journal of World Anthropology - A site at the University of Buffalo offering full text of the four issues produced of this periodical between 1994 and 1996. The site also offers a link to the new Anthropology Reviews Database.
- SAA Archaeological Record
- The Journal of the Polynesian Society
Specific Cultural Groups and Regions
- Aboriginal Canada Portal - The bilingual site (English/French) was launched in March 2001 as a single gateway connecting 7,500 links for and about aboriginal peoples in Canada. This site also offers services on a variety of topics including economic development, claims and treaties, employment, health, housing, environment, language and culture, social justice, and policy.
- Afghanistan: Hidden Treasure from the National Museum, Kabul
- Afghanistan: The Harrison Forman Collection - 186 images from a larger collection documenting the traditional life and culture of Afghanistan from the 1920s to 1969, housed at the American Geographical Society in Milwaukee.
- American Experience: We Shall Remain
- Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations - This site explores the sights and sounds of Mesoamerican and its rich archaeology and history. Among the topics examined in this study of Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, and Zapotec cultures are history, archaeology, political organizations, mathematics, writing systems, religion, and legends. An excellent resource for various academic disciplines and a real treat for the general audience.
- Arctic Circle - A site devoted to reporting the current state of cultural, economic, political, and environmental change in the lands surrounding the Arctic Ocean.
- Arnold Arboretum: South Central China and Tibet: Hotspot of Diversity
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Becoming American: The Chinese Experience - Designed as a companion to the PBS television program, this page offers detailed eyewitness accounts of the lives and history of this large segment of the American population.
- British Library: Archival Sound Recordings: Music from India
- By Aeroplane to Pygmyland: Revisiting the 1926 Dutch and American Expedition to New Guinea
- Camping with the Sioux: Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher - In 1881, Alice Fletcher went to the Dakota Territory to live among the Sioux and record the way of life of the women. This site offers a complete copy of a six-weeks-long field diary, supplementary biographic materials, and related photographs.
- Carl V. Hartman & The Costa Rica Collections
- Digital Himalaya
- Digital South Asia library
- Drawings of the Western Frontier: The James E. Taylor Album - This page presents 749 of the images and album pages from a document created by American illustrator James Taylor ( 1839-1901 ) held at the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Institution. Readers will find the introductory essay on the place of illustrators in the journalism of the time valuable background.
- ECAI Iraq
- Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives
- Forest Peoples Programme
- Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania
- Gypsies (Romanies) and Travelers
- Listening To Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast
- Lost Treasures from Iraq
- Louisiana CRT/Office of Cultural Development: Division of Archaeology
- MENALIB: The Middle East Virtual Library
- Mountain Voices - Ranging from Lesotho to Nepal, this page offers interviews with over 300 people who live in ten of the highland and mountain regions around the world, focusing on questions of cultural change and the impact of development.
- Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia
- Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation
- Nuer Field Notes
- Portal to Asian Internet Resources
- Richard Throssel Photographs
- S'abadeb- The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artist
- SARAI (South Asia Resource Access on the Internet) - Part of the WWW Virtual Library of Asian Studies, this huge colorful and unique site covers libraries, reference tools and bibliographic resources on South Asia, electronic journals and newspapers from the region, a directory of South Asian scholars, web resources by country (including city and province home pages), organizations and topic-specific sites. A search engine is provided.
- Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection
- South African Voices
- Southern Oregon Digital Archives
- The Cave of Lascaux - A virtual representation of the famed Palaeolithic arts, Le Lascaux, closed to the public view since 1963 for preservation. A plan of all galleries is provided with all major artworks illustrated.
- The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 - This beautifully built page illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California via some 8,000 images of photographs, letters, original art, cartoons, legal documents, business records and diaries. As the oldest and largest community of its kind in the United States, San Francisco's Chinatown receives special treatment. Based on materials from the libraries of the University of California- Berkeley and the California Historical Society.
- The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean - Possibly the most comprehensive Web site on prehistoric Greece down to the collapse of Mycenaean civilization.
- The Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL)
- Tipatshimuna- Innu Stories from the Land
- United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
- Virtual Hilltribe Museum
- WWW Virtual Library: American Indians





