Social Sciences
140 Anthropology and Archaeology
Collections
SFU Archaeology Press (CC BY-ND)
A collection of reports and monographs on topics in archaeology published by SFU Archaeology Press.
Berghahn Open Anthro (Various CC licences)
Berghahn Open Anthro is a subscribe-to-open model being piloted by Berghahn Books in partnership with Libraria, a group of researchers who are also supporting a number of other publishers hoping to adopt this model should the pilot prove successful.
Freebookapalooza (Various CC licences)
A list of free books regarding myth and folklore. Many of these are in the public domain.
Vertebrate Paleontology 3D Database (CC BY-NC)
A collection of dinosaur bone scans.
Courses
Anthropology Mini Lectures: A collective resource for online teaching in the time of COVID19 (CC BY-NC-SA)
A platform for anthropologists (and those anthropology adjacent) to create and share 10-30 minute videos and accompanying texts and pedagogical resources (slides, film clips, lesson plans/assignments suitable for online submission) as a way to supplement, enliven, and collectivize the work we are all already doing to take our courses online.
Macroevolution (CC BY)
Evolutionary thinking provides the underpinnings of modern biology. In recent decades, the field of macroevolution (evolution above the species level) has matured into a rich discipline with a well-developed mathematical theory for testing hypotheses of species diversification, for understanding trait evolution, and evaluating patterns of covariation across the tree of life. This course will provide a synthetic view of biology and how life on earth has changed over time.
Journals
Anthropological Review: The Journal of Polish Anthropological Society (Various CC licences)
Student Anthropologist (CC BY-NC-ND)
This is the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the National Association of Student Anthropologists. The journal publishes peer-reviewed, original ethnographic or theoretical student research as well as book reviews of relevant texts in anthropology and related fields.
Monographs
The Ancient Past of Keatley Creek: Volume I: Taphonomy (CC BY-NC-ND)
Keatley Creek is a world heritage quality site with unusually large housepits, good preservation, clear architectural features and evidence for complex socioeconomic organization. Work done here has been at the centre of theoretical and methodological advances in archaeological studies of complex hunter/gatherers. Volume I: Taphonomy includes thorough documentation of dating, climate, soils, and site formation processes. Botanical, faunal and lithic remains are examined to see what they reveal about the formation of different types of strata (floors, roofs, middens). Stone sources are identified and the lithic assemblage is analyzed from a design theory perspective emphasizing both artifacts and debitage.
The Ancient Past of Keatley Creek: Volume II: Socioeconomy (CC BY-NC-ND)
Volume II: Socioeconomy presents analyses dealing with the basic social, economic, and political organization of the prehistoric community at Keatley Creek. Faunal, botanical, and lithic remains are examined in individual chapters to determine how activities were structured within housepits of different sizes (small, medium, and large).
Archaeology of the Lower Fraser River Region (CC BY-NC-ND)
a considerable number of significant and richly informative archaeological studies have been conducted within the Lower Fraser River Region of southwestern British Columbia. As a result, a great deal has been revealed and learned about pre-contact period and early post-contact period human occupation, settlement, and use of natural resources. This book aims to bring those studies together into a single volume.
The Archaeology of Kamloops (CC BY-NC-ND)
This report is concerned with archaeological excavations in the south-central interior of British Columbia, in the vicinity of Kamloops. The principal results of the research are the description and incorporation of new archaeological data into a cultural-historical synthesis for the Kamloops locality.
This controversial volume by Siberian archaeologists, Yuri Mochanov and Svetlana Fedoseeva, places the recent discoveries of early Paleolithic artifacts at the Diring Yuriak site on the Lena River in Siberia, dated at several million years ago, in a model of human origins in the north and thereby challenges the current ruling theory of human origins in Africa. In addition the authors provide illustrations of artifact assemblages from their forty years of research in northeast Siberia that span the early Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and late Paleolithic periods.
At A Crossroads: Archaeology and First Peoples in Canada (CC BY-NC-ND)
The 20 papers in this volume were written by both Native and Non-Native authors, and provide both substance and food-for-thought concerning the complex interactions between archaeologists and contemporary indigenous peoples of Canada in regard to working together, interpretation of the past, ownership of the past, and the relationships between traditional knowledge and archaeological fact.
Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North (CC BY)
Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North breaks new ground by exploring the concept of lifestyle from a distinctly anthropological perspective. Showcasing the collective work of ten experienced scholars in the field, the book goes beyond concepts of tradition that have often been the focus of previous research, to explain how political, economic and technological changes in Russia have created a wide range of new possibilities and constraints in the pursuit of different ways of life.
Toolstone Geography of the Pacific Northwest (CC BY-NC-ND)
This book includes fifteen chapters by well-known and respected authors presenting new and intriguing revelations about toolstones in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and northern California. Each chapter examines lithic raw material sources, the uses and distribution of the toolstones quarried from them, and the archaeological or anthropological inferences that studies of toolstone geography provide.
Textbooks
ANTH 101 (CC BY-NC-SA)
A free online textbook called The Art of Being Human along with a collection of complementary ancillary resources including lesson plans, activities, and videos.
The Art of Being Human: A Textbook for Cultural Anthropology (CC BY-NC-SA)
In this unique book, Dr. Michael Wesch shares many of his own adventures of being an anthropologist and what the science of human beings can tell us about the art of being human. This special first draft edition is a loose framework for more and more complete future chapters and writings. It serves as a companion to anth101.com, a free and open resource for instructors of cultural anthropology.
Beliefs: An Open Invitation to the Anthropology of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion (CC BY)
This book on the Anthropology of Religion includes material from contributing authors’ lectures that have been interesting for students in their classrooms. The core concepts are accompanied by ethnographic examples from various cultures around the world, as well as, audio playlists of each chapter that is available on Soundcloud.
Discovering Cultural Anthropology (CC BY-NC-SA)
This book is for an introductory course on cultural or social anthropology. It is comprised of original work by Antonia M. Santangelo along with adapted / remixed material from Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Second Edition)
Digging into Archaeology: A Brief OER Introduction to Archaeology with Activities (CC BY-NC)
This book is intended for use in a variety of introductory archaeology settings, such as in lectures and lab courses. This text can complement an existing traditional text or completely replace a standard text. It can be used for its activities or as a study resource.
Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology (CC BY-NC)
A comprehensive, peer-reviewed open access textbook for biological anthropology courses. Produced with support from the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (a section of the American Anthropological Association) and a grant from Minnesota State.
Introduction to Human Osteology (CC BY-NC)
This text was designed for use in the human osteology laboratory classroom. Bones are described to aid in identification of skeletonized remains in either an archaeological or forensic anthropology setting. Basic techniques for siding, aging, sexing, and stature estimation are described. Both images of bone and drawings are included which may be used for study purposes outside of the classroom.
Speaking of Culture (CC BY-NC)
The purpose of this textbook is to define culture and other concepts associated with it. This book will help you to better understand the breadth of the concept of culture and provide a vocabulary for discussing it more articulately. Culture is a broad concept that cuts across many academic disciplines. This book touches on anthropology, biology, history, mythology, political science, psychology, and sociology.
What We Now Know about Race and Ethnicity (CC BY-NC-ND)
Attempts of nineteenth-century writers to establish “race” as a biological concept failed after Charles Darwin opened the door to a new world of knowledge. Yet this word already had a place in the organization of everyday life and in ordinary English language usage. This book explains how the idea of race became so important in the USA, generating conceptual confusion that can now be clarified. Developing an international approach, it reviews references to “race,” “racism,” and “ethnicity” in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and comparative politics and identifies promising lines of research that may make it possible to supersede misleading notions of race in the social sciences.
Media Attributions
- BC Map © Adamwashere is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license