Master's Degree

The Department of Anthropology welcomes master’s degree-seeking students with an interest in archaeology, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology. Faculty members are concentrated on research in the Southeastern United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, and Australia. Course work and research experiences are available in prehistoric and historic archaeology, underwater archaeology, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, sociocultural anthropology, visual anthropology, ethnographic media production, Native American Studies, and human 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 and FSU Anthropology currently share a building at Innovation Park, southwest of the main campus.

As the capital of the state, Tallahassee 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 has an office here as does the State Park Service. Several private Cultural Resource Management firms have offices in Tallahassee. Students have found internships and employment in all of these agencies and firms.

Training and field experience are available in archaeology (terrestrial and underwater), physical anthropology, forensic sciences, ethnology, and media studies. Programs sponsored by other University departments of interest to anthropology students include courses offered in Geographical Information Systems (Department of Geography), computational forensics (Scientific Computing), historical administration (Department of Art History), classical archaeology and classical civilizations (Department of Classics), ethnomusicology (College of Music), international and intercultural education program (College of Education), and the interdisciplinary program in Museum Studies (based in the College of Fine Arts).