1 Anthropology & Archaeology

Book Collections & Textbooks

• Becoming Human: How Evolution Made Us:  An introduction to basic evolutionary theories and human origins; highlights how evolution affects the way we are today, and helps us to anticipate what might happen to us in the future. [CC BY-NC]
• Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology:  A collection of chapters on the fundamental topics in cultural anthropology. An edited volume with each chapter written by a different author from their experiences working as an anthropologist. [CC BY-NC]
• OpenStax: Introduction to Anthropology: a four-field text integrating diverse voices, engaging field activities, and meaningful themes like Indigenous experiences and social inequality to engage students and enrich learning; showcases the historical context of the discipline, with a strong focus on anthropology as a living and evolving field.  There is significant discussion of recent efforts to make the field more diverse—in its practitioners, in the questions it asks, and in the applications of anthropological research to address contemporary challenges.  In addressing social inequality, the text drives readers to consider the rise and impact of social inequalities based on forms of identity and difference (such as gender, ethnicity, race, and class) as well as oppression and discrimination. The contributors to and dangers of socioeconomic inequality are fully addressed, and the role of inequality in social dysfunction, disruption, and change is noted. [CC BY]
• Project Gutenberg: Anthropology Collection: The vast majority of Project Gutenberg eBooks are in the public domain in the US. This means that nobody can grant, or withhold, permission to do with this item as you please. “As you please” includes any commercial use, republishing in any format, making derivative works or performances, etc. [Public Domain]
• Introduction to Paleoanthropology: A featured book on Wikibooks; Chapters: Defining Paleoanthropology; Origin of Paleoanthropology; Importance of Bones; Early Hominid Fossils; Phylogeny and Chronology; Early Hominid Behavior; The Oldowan Period; The Acheulean Period; Hominids of the Acheulean; Technology in the Acheulean; Hominids of the Middle Paleolithic; Technology of the Middle Paleolithic; The Upper Paleolithic. [CC BY-SA]
• Student Anthropologist Archives: Archived volumes of Student Anthropologist, a flagship peer-reviewed journal of the National Association of Student Anthropologists (the largest organization of student anthropologists in the world). The journal publishes peer-reviewed, original ethnographic or theoretical student research as well as book reviews of relevant texts in anthropology and related fields. [CC BY-NC-ND]
• OpenBook Publishers: Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion: “We are the leading independent Open Access publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences in the UK: a not-for-profit Social Enterprise run by scholars who are committed to making high-quality research freely available to readers around the world.” Choose a title, then click on “Read PDF” or “Read HTML” [Open Access (OA)]

Repositories & Research

• Open Anthro: Open-journal repository with titles: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures; Anthropology of the Middle East; The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology; Conflict and Society; Environment and Society; Focaal; Journal of Legal Anthropology; Learning and Teaching; Migration and Society; Museum Worlds; Religion and Society; Sibirica; Social Analysis; Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
• National Anthropological Archives: “The National Anthropological Archives in the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Anthropology, collects and preserves historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world’s cultures and the history of anthropology. The collections include fieldnotes, journals, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, maps, artwork, and sound recordings created by Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian anthropologists, Native peoples, and other scholars, scientists, and researchers.”
• Open Library of Humanities Special Collections: Peer-reviewed open journals across the humanities disciplines: classics, theology and philosophy, to modern literatures, film and media studies, anthropology, political theory and sociology. Special Collections are focused on a particular topic or theme.
• OCRE (Online Coins of the Roman Empire): OCRE is a joint project of the American Numismatic Society and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, and a tool designed to help in the identification, cataloging, and research of the varied coinage of the Roman Empire. “The project records every published type of Roman Imperial Coinage from Augustus in 31 BC, until the death of Zeno in AD 491.” Contains downloadable catalog entries, incorporating over 43,000 types of coins. Open Database License: free to share and modify]
• ANT101 Cultural Anthropology: Anthropology guide from Colorado Community College System (CCCS) – CCCOnline. Materials have been librarian-curated from a variety of sources and vetted for content and alignment by subject matter experts. [CC BY]
• Smarthistory: An art history resource and collaboration of more than five hundred art historians, curators, archaeologists, and artists; official provider of art history for khanacademy.org; supports the ethical and open sharing of cultural knowledge. All resources are published under a Creative Commons non-commercial license. [CC BY-NC-SA]

OER SPOTLIGHT: ANTHROPOLOGY & ARCHAEOLOGY

Museum of Natural History Public Talks | University of Oxford Podcasts : This podcast series presents recordings of talks given at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History as part of its public program of events. The Museum of Natural History was founded in 1860, and today it holds an internationally significant collection of natural history specimens and archives. Housed in a stunning Neo-Gothic building inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, the Museum is home to a lively program of research, teaching and public events.

Series includes: Biodiversity on the rocks: joining the dots between animate and inanimate; Extinction and the Museum: skeletons and other remains in our cupboards; On display: nature’s dramas, nature’s dioramas; Of parasites, dinosaurs, and other model animals; The Great Debate; Should We Engineer Our Way Out of Climate Change?; and more.

Courseware & Open Learning

• MIT Anthropology OpenCourseWare: MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. Resources include videos, lectures notes, audio lectures. [CC BY-NC-SA]
• University of Oxford: Living in the Stone Age (short films): “In this series of 11 short films Experimental Archaeologists, Oxford University Lecturers and Bushcraft specialists demonstrate a range of Stone Age crafts, skills and technologies as well as art and music. Each 5 minute film can be used in the classroom to focus on a particular technology.” [CC BY-NC-SA]

Videos

• TED Talks: Archaeology: A collection of TED Talks on the topic of Archaeology. [CC BY-NC-ND, unless otherwise noted]
• TED Talks: Anthropology: A collection of TED Talks on the topic of Anthropology. [CC BY-NC-ND, unless otherwise noted]
• Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley: YouTube playlists; Creative Commons
• OER Project Videos: Anthropology: includes Intro to Anthropology, Making stone tools, Early humans, What is life?, and more.