University of Minnesota
Department of Anthropology
anth@umn.edu
612-625-3400


Department of Anthropology

Subfield: Cultural Heritage Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology's Cultural Heritage Studies program is dedicated to research and education in the protection, conservation, and enhancement of global cultural heritage. By global cultural heritage we mean the culture, language, and biology of past peoples throughout the world as retrieved through written records, oral traditions, and archaeological research.

At present, the Department of Anthropology offers only two cultural heritage studies courses on a regular basis: Anth 3980/5990 Introduction to Heritage Management and Anth 5990/8510 Advanced Heritage Management. Undergraduates interested in a concentration in cultural heritage combine these courses with other courses in cultural anthropology linguistic anthropology, archaeology, or biological anthropology, as well as heritage courses in other departments and programs at the university. Graduate students are also strongly encouraged to take Anth 8004, Foundations of Anthropological Archaeology. As the title of the course indicates, Foundations of Anthropological Archaeology is framed more broadly than a course focused solely on archaeology.

Graduate students can participate in our two-year Cultural Heritage Studies Plan B Master's program, which is designed for individuals interested in working for a cultural heritage organization. Individual programs in archaeology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, or biological anthropology, or some combination of these subfields are designed to facilitate the schedules of working professionals as well as regular, on-campus students. For information on this graduate program, see Chapter 5 in the Graduate Student Handbook and/or contact the director of the program Professor Kat Hayes. Students in the program are also encouraged to take courses in related departments. The program has close ties to the ethnic studies departments, museum studies, and the College of design's program in Heritage Preservation.

The two department faculty most directly involved in the program at present are Professor Hayes and Scott Anfinson, current State Archaeologist of Minnesota. Nonetheless, other faculty in the department can serve as advisers for graduate students.

Scott Anfinson is an instructor in the department, an affiliate member of the Graduate faculty, and Minnesota State Archaeologist. He has written and edited a number of archaeological publications, including Southwestern Minnesota Archaeology, published by the Minnesota Historical Society, and A Handbook of Minnesota Prehistoric Ceramics, published by the Minnesota Archaeological Society. His areas of expertise include the prehistoric archaeology of the Midwest, the historical archaeology of the Minneapolis riverfront, and Lake Superior shipwreck archaeology. He has served as president of the Council for Minnesota Archaeology and as program chair for the Plains Anthropological Conference. He is an editorial adviser to American Archaeology and the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. Professor Anfinson teaches courses in Midwestern archaeology and cultural resource management in the department.

Katherine Hayes has research interests in historical archaeology, the Colonial period in the United States, material culture studies, postcolonial and practice theories, and social identify as manifest in the archaeological record. Her present research focus is the historic Little Round Hill site in Wadena County, Minnesota. Among the courses she teaches regularly are Introduction to Historical Archaeology (Anth 3028), Foundations of Anthropological Archaeology (Anth 8004), Archival Analysis for Archaeologists (Anth 4101), Archaeologies of Colonialism (Anth 4103), Ceramic Analysis (Anth 5990), and Archaeology Field School (Anth 3221/8220).