Anthropology & Archaeology Research Guide

This list of resources is intended as a guide to beginning research in Anthropology and Archaeology at Portland State Library. For information about the program at Portland State University, see the Anthropology Web site. For help with research, contact Jennifer Dorner, Social Sciences and Humanities Librarian, at dorner@pdx.edu or 503.725.4125.

Topic summary

Reference resources provide excellent background/overview information and are a great place to begin your research. They frequently contain contain articles written by experts for a general audience. Most of these tools include indexes that indicate the scope of coverage of a topic and help pinpoint articles in which a concept will be discussed. Sources for further reading are usually included.

Atlas of archaeology
CC165 .A75 1998 | 2nd Floor

Cambridge encyclopedia of hunters & gatherers
GN388 .C35 1999 | 2nd Floor

Companion encyclopedia of anthropology
GN25 .C65 1994 | 2nd Floor

Companion encyclopedia of archaeology
CC70 .C59 1999 | 2nd Floor

CultureGrams
GT150 .C85 2000 | 2nd Floor

Dictionary of anthropology
GN307 .D485 1997 | 2nd Floor

Dictionary of archaeology
CC70 .D53 1999 | 2nd Floor

Dictionary of concepts in cultural anthropology
GN307 .W56 1991 | 2nd Floor

Dictionary of concepts in physical anthropology
GN 503 .S74 1991 | 2nd Floor

Encyclopedia of cultural anthropology
GN307 .E52 1996 | 2nd Floor

Encyclopedia of multiculturalism
E184 .A1 E58 1994 | 2nd Floor

Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt
DT58 .E53 1999 | 2nd Floor

Encyclopedia of world cultures
GN307 .E53 1991 | 2nd Floor

Encyclopedic dictionary of archaeology
CC70 .K56 2000 | 2nd Floor

Oxford companion to archaeology
CC70 .O96 1996 | 2nd Floor

Finding articles

To find articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers, you will need to use one of the Library's print indexes or article databases. An index or article database will allow you to look for articles by title, by author, or by a few keywords that describe your topic. The indexes and databases most useful for research in anthropology and archaeology are:

Abstracts in Anthropology
GN1 .A15 | 2nd Floor
Abstracts of books, articles and conference papers are grouped in four sectionsArchaoleogy, cultural anthropology, linguistics and physical anthropology. Abstracts have been contributed by authors, by journals publishing the original articles, or by the editors.

America History and Life
America: History and Life is the primary source of citations for articles, book reviews, book chapters, and dissertations on American and Canadian history. The database is not full text, but links are provided to full-text articles in other Library databases. Only sources published since 1964 are covered.

Anthropological Index Online
http://aio.anthropology.org.uk/cgi-bin/uncgi/search_bib_ai/anthind
Anthropological Index is a searchable database of citations from journals received by the Museum of Mankind Library (London). It includes international journals from all branches of anthropology and archaeology. Not all citations are in English, though some are translated. Coverage is from the late 1950s.

Anthropological Literature
Anthropological Literature indexes articles and essays on anthropology and archaeology, as well as related fields like art history, demography, economics, psychology, and religious studies, from sources in Harvard's Tozzer Library. Coverage of some journals goes back to the 19th century. Citations in non-Romanized languages are translated.

Anthrosource
Anthrosource provides full-text access to archival and current issues of important anthropology journals published by the American Anthropological Association. Its database features full-text searching of content back to 1880.

Bibliography of Native North Americans
Bibliography of Native North Americans contains citations to literature about the history, life and culture of native North Americans. Compiled by the Human Relations Area Files, it indexes works published from the sixteenth century to the present, including books, journal articles, essays, U.S. and Canadian government documents, and conference papers.

GeoRef
Citations and abstracts of the earth sciences (including palaeontology) literature. This database covers journal articles, books, conference proceedings, maps, theses, and Geological Survey publications from 1933 to the present (1785 to the present for North American geology).

Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts is the primary source of citations for articles, book reviews, book chapters, and dissertations on world historical events from 1450-present (excluding the United States and Canada). The database is not full text, but links are provided to full-text articles in other Library databases. All abstracts are in English, though source journals from all languages are included. Only sources published since 1954 are indexed.

Human Relations Area File (Electronic HRAF)
The eHRAF Collection of Ethnography includes thousands of books, articles, reports, and other documents that describe approximately 90 world cultures. The database is searchable either by culture or topic, and results retrieved link directly to the relevant sections of the full text documents. This electronic resource contains only a subset of what is included in the HRAF microfiche collection.

Finding books

Search Portland State Library's catalog, Vikat for books, journals (not individual articles), videos, government information, music and other material owned by the Library. You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.

Browsing the library shelves by call number is another strategy for locating information on a topic; call numbers can help you get to the "right neighborhood" in the library stacks.

CC 1-99	Archaeology
E 75-99	Indians of North America
GN	Anthropology
GR	Folklore
GT	Manners and customs

Subject headings allow you to search library catalogs for materials on a particular topic. Often subject heading searching can be more productive than searching by simple keywords. Listed here are some major subject headings of interest for research in anthropology or archaeology. Copies of the complete set of the Library of Congress Subject Headings are available at the 2nd floor Reference Desk.

Acculturation
Anthropology
Archaeology
Archaeogeology
Archaeological dating
Cultural relativism
Archaeological expeditions
Economic Anthropology
Ethnography
Ethnology
Excavations arrchaeology

Historic sites
Hunting and gathering societies
Indians antiquities
Indigenous peoples
Kinship
Paleontology
Physical anthropology Salvage archaeology
Social evolution Structural anthropology
Urban anthropology
Urban archaeology
Visual anthropology

Site reports owned by the Library are being labelled in VIKAT with the phrase "archaeological site report." This allows you to find site reports for a particular location by combining this phrase in a keyword search with your site or region:

archaeological site report and peru
archaeological site report and pampa grande

Finding books elsewhere. Remember, too, that you are not just limited to what we own in our Library. Whenever you are searching, you have the option of expanding your results by clicking on the SUMMIT button in the upper right hand corner of the results screen. This automatically redoes your search in the SUMMIT catalog of the ORBIS/CASCADE Alliance. If you find an item in that catalog that you'd like to see, click on the "REQUEST THIS ITEM" link and follow the directions on the screen.

If you cannot find what you need in the our catalog (VIKAT) or the catalog of the Orbis-Cascade Alliance (Summit), then you might try WorldCat. WorldCat contains more than 30 millions records for materials cataloged by the Library of Congress and OCLC member libraries, including most academic and many public libraries in the U.S. Catalog includes books, serials (journals, magazines and newspapers), musical scores, recordings, videos, computer software, films, maps and manuscripts. If you find materials unavailable in the Portland State Library or through SUMMIT, you can request them through Interlibrary Loan.

Finding people and organizations

American Anthropological Association Guide: a guide to programs, a directory of members
GN43 .A2 G84 | 2nd Floor

Biographical directory of anthropologists born before 1920
Z5111 .B56 1988 | 2nd Floor

Directory of practicing anthropologists
GN20 .D73 1985 | Basement

International directory of anthropologists
GN20 .I5 1991 | 2nd Floor

Related information

American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/

Anthropology Internet Resources
http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/socialsci/antres.html

ArchNet
http://archnet.asu.edu/

Ethnographic Resources related to Folklore, Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, and the Humanities
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/other.html

Data sets and statistics

Digital Archive Network for Anthropology and World Heritage
http://www.dana-wh.net/home/
This site is dedicated to the access, presentation, and preservation of material objects that represent human cultural and biological heritage worldwide.

Statistical record of native North Americans
E98 .P76 S73 1995 | 2nd Floor

Citing your sources & Style manuals

Anthropology journals generally follow the guidelines laid out in The Chicago Manual of Style or one of its summaries, such as Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. Individual journals may have their own variants.

American Anthropological Association Style Guide
http://www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.htm

The Chicago manual of style
Z253 .C57 | 2nd Floor Reference Desk

A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations
LB2369 .T8 1996 | 2nd Floor Reference Desk

Finding topics

Anthropology in the News
http://anthropology.tamu.edu/news.htm
Links to news stories published on the web by ABC, CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Nando, Archaeology, university press releases and other sources. Some services require that you register and select a password in order to retrieve articles, but none charge a fee to retrieve these news stories.

Current Anthropology
GN1 .C8 in Basement or full text from 1997-.

Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology
http://savageminds.org
Savage Minds is a collective web log devoted to both bringing anthropology to a wider audience as well as providing an online forum for discussing the latest developments in the field.

Research help

Fieldwork in the library : a guide to research in anthropology and related area studies
Z5111 .W47 1994 | 2nd Floor

Introduction to library research in anthropology
Z5111 .W44 1998 2nd Floor