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Anthropology & Archaeology Research Guide

Overview

This bibliography is a selective guide to scholarly and professional resources in Anthropology and Archæology. This guide assumes that undergraduate students have completed their information competence requirement and therefore have some experience with research in the library. For more information on this requirement, see the Basic Information Competence Requirement page.

Library research begins with your own in-depth analysis of the topic—for example, outlining the component parts of the topic, generating lists of keywords and variations, deciding how current or historical the articles should be, identifying key researchers in the field. For more information on how to successfully research your topic, see the Research Assistance menu. For library research asssistance in Psychology, contact the library specialist:

Citing References

The Library guide to Citing References includes sample citations for citing print and electronic information. When writing a paper, ask your professor which style guide he or she prefers. The most commonly used are:

Please Note: American anthropologists generally follow the style used in papers published in American Anthropologist; this journal provides guidelines [ http://www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.htm ] for authors in each issue.

There are also books to help guide

Locating Books & Masters Theses

Use InvestiGator [ http://opac.sfsu.edu/search/ ], the library's online catalog, to locate books, SF State masters theses, periodicals, and media. InvestiGator will also tell you if a book is checked out or in a special location. For more information, see Find Books Overview. To locate electronic and print materials on reserve for classes, see Find Reserve Materials overview or use the course/instructor search options on the InvestiGator menu.

You may search InvestiGator by author, title, keyword, subject and other identifiers. You may limit searches by date, language, words, format (such as video), and locations (such as Internet). To locate masters theses, you may

  1. use the Theses tab in InvestiGator
  2. modify any search by the location “Masters Theses Collection”
  3. do a Basic Keywords search using the word “theses,” for example: “anthropology and theses.”
  4. also browse the most recent theses in Anthropology.

For more information on finding theses and dissertations from other universities, see Master's Theses & Dissertations.

Selected InvestiGator searches for:

To access the catalogs of other libraries, see Other Libraries. If the book you want isn't here, see Borrowing Items from Other Libraries.

Locating Periodicals & Articles

Finding Periodicals in the Library: Most journals and other periodicals are shelved in the Periodicals Collection on the 2nd floor, in alphabetical order by title. Current issues are in the Current Periodicals area; back issues may be bound, microfiche or microfilm. Some journals are located in Government Publications on the 5th floor. To find out whether the Library has a particular journal, search InvestiGator by Title.

Selected InvestiGator searches for:

Finding Electronic full-text periodicals: Many online journals are listed in InvestiGator but others are available within an electronic database such as Academic Search Premiere or Lexis Nexis Academic. For more information see Find Articles Guide.

Locating Articles in Journals: Browsing current journals can be a useful strategy but it is best to use indexes, abstracts and electronic databases to search systematically. The Reference Department provides access to hundreds of print and electronic search services; this guide lists a few of those most useful for your discipline. Please ask about other possibilities if these are not retrieving your topic. To see the complete list of available databases, see Find a Database. Most students will need a Library PIN to use these databases from off campus; for more information, see Off-Campus Database Access.

Databases: To see the complete list of available databases for Anthropology, connect to the Find a Database page, pull down the “Browse by Subject” list to “Anthropology” and click “Go.”

Anthropology Plus
Content: Combines Anthropological Literature from Harvard University with Anthropological Index from Royal Anthropological Institute, UK.
Coverage: Late 19th century to the present
AnthroSource
Content: “Current issues for 15 of the American Anthropological Association's most critical peer-reviewed publications through the end of 2006, including American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Includes an electronic archive of all AAA journals.”
Coverage: Varies but some journals go back 100 years.
America: History and Life
Content: “Complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.”
Coverage: 1964 - present; updated spring, summer & fall

Document Delivery Service (DDS)

If the Library does not own the book or article that you want, you still have several means of getting it. For more information, see Borrowing Items from Other Libraries. Your request may take a few days to a few weeks to fulfill, depending upon the lending source. It is always faster to substitute something else already in our collection that will aid your project. For more information, see Research Assistance.

Human Relations Area Files/eHRAF

eHRAF World Cultures (formerly eHRAF Ethnography)
Human Relations Area Files, Inc. was founded in 1949 at Yale University. Its mission is "to provide information that facilitates the cross-cultural study of human behavior, society and culture." We have three significant collections of fulltext resources from HRAF, Inc. that include a representative sample of cultures or traditions from all over the world indexed by standard HRAF subject headings and by keyword in online files.
eHRAF Archæology
This is a new electronic resource that began with about 20 tradition files (e.g., Iranian Bronze Age, Classic Maya, Late Southern California and others) and grows annually.

Reference Sources

Dictionaries:
Search InvestiGator for Anthropology Dictionaries (Subject)
Search InvestiGator for Archæology Dictionaries (Subject)
The dictionary of anthropology.
Oxford, UK ; Malden, MA : Blackwell, 1997.
[ Reference Collection GN 307 .D485 1997 ]
Countries and their cultures.
New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 4 volumes.
[ Reference Collection GN307 .C68 2001 ]
Handbook of qualitative research.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2000.
[ Reference Collection H62 .H2455 2000 ]
International dictionary of anthropologists.
New York : Garland Pub., 1991.
[ Reference Collection GN 20 .I5 1991 ]
Price, David H. Atlas of world cultures: a geographical guide to ethnographic literature.
Newbury Park, Calif. : Sage Publications, c1989.
[ Reference Collection G 1046.E1 P7 1989 ]
Smithsonian Institution. Bureau Of American Ethnology bulletin series.
Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1887 - 1971.
[ Main Collection E 51 .U6 no.200 ]
Major ethnographic resource series on North American Indians; index is Number 200.
Stevenson, Joan C. Dictionary of concepts in physical anthropology.
New York : Greenwood Press, 1991.
[ Reference Collection GN 50.3 .S74 1991 ]
Spencer, Frank. History of physical anthropology.
New York : Garland Pub., 1997. 2 volumes.
[ Reference Collection GN50.3 .H57 1997 ]
Teixeira, Lauren S. The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay area : a research guide.
Menlo Park, CA : Ballena Press, c1997.
[ Reference Collection Z 1210 .C67 T45 1997 ]
Trask, R. L. Key concepts in language and linguistics.
London ; New York : Routledge, 1999.
[ Reference Collection P 29 .T687 1999 ]
Dalby, Andrew. Dictionary of languages : the definitive reference to more than 400 languages.
New York : Columbia University Press, 2004.
[ Reference Collection P371 .D35 2004 ]
Weeks, John M. Introduction to library research in anthropology.
Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, c1998.
[ Reference Collection Z 5111 .W44 1998 ]
Women anthropologists : a biographical dictionary.
New York : Greenwood Press, c1988.
[ Reference Collection GN 20 .W63 1988 ]
Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary : with an index of English words, king list and geographical list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, Coptic and Semitic alphabets, etc.
New York : Dover Publications, 1978. 2 volumes.
[ Reference Collection PJ 1425 .B8 1978 ]
David, Rosalie and Antony E. A biographical dictionary of ancient Egypt.
Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
[ Reference Collection DT 83 .D2 1996 ]
Encyclopedia of archæology. The great archæologists.
Santa Barbara, Calif.: Santa Barbara, Calif. 2 vols.
[ Reference Collection CC110 .E54 1999 ]
Encyclopedia of archæology. History And Discoveries.
Santa Barbara, Calif.: Santa Barbara, Calif. 2 vols.
[ Reference Collection CC100 .E54 2001 ]
Encyclopedia of the history of classical archæology.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996. 2 volumes.
[ Reference Collection DE 5 E5 1996 ]
Hofling, Charles Andrew. Itzaj Maya-Spanish-English dictionary = Diccionario Maya itzaj-español-inglés.
Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, c1997.
[ Reference Collection PM 3969.5.I89 H63 1997 ]

Reviews

Reviews are publications (often issued annually) devoted to specialized subjects, e.g. pharmacology, genomics, or entomology. They are collections of scholarly papers reflecting current research and theory in the field. The following list is a sample of reviews.

Internet Resources

American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/
National professional association and publisher of scholary resources. Other discipline related organizations include Society for Applied Anthropology [www.sfaa.net], Society for American Archæology [www.saa.org], and American Association of Physical Anthropologists [physanth.org].
Directory of Open Access Journals in Anthropology
http://www.doaj.org/ljbs?cpid=124
The aim of the Directory of Open Access Journals is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact.
Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology
http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/toc.htm
Online resource.
AMNH scientific publications
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/
This collection includes full-text PDFs of current and back issues of American Museum of Natural History scientific series.
Arch Net
http://archnet.asu.edu/
World Wide Web Virtual Library for Archæology sponsored by the Archæological Research Institute at Arizona State University.
National Anthropological Archives & Human Studies Film Archives
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/
The National Anthropological Archives collects and preserves historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world's cultures and the history of the discipline. Its collections represent the four fields of anthropology—ethnology, linguistics, archæology, and physical anthropology—and include manuscripts, fieldnotes, correspondence, photographs, maps, sound recordings, film and video created by Smithsonian anthropologists and other preeminent scholars.
Virtual Library for Anthropology
http://vlib.anthrotech.com
World Wide Web Virtual Library maintained by Anthro TECH; a company that "provides innovative Web resources and services to the anthropological community and general public."
Yahoo Directory for Anthropology and Archæology
http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Anthropology_and_Archaeology
Includes many subdirectories with links.
About.com Guide to Archæology Resources
http://archaeology.about.com/
Advertising supported web site providing forums and chats rooms in addition to links to other Internet sites.
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