The Department of Anthropology and Archaeology has an international 'four-field' approach, combining archaeology with evolutionary, social and linguistic anthropology. Our key strengths lie in our integrated approaches to understanding cultural, biological and social change: the spread of peoples, their ideas and material artefacts. We focus particularly on adaptation, adversity and globalisation.

Our research spans from earliest prehistory to the modern day. Field research takes place in the UK, as well as Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Slovenia, Turkey, Peru, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere.

We are well equipped to undertake anthropological and archaeological fieldwork, including excavation, and we have world-class radiocarbon dating, isotopic and micro-imaging laboratories on site. We foster partnerships with professional institutions nationally and locally to provide additional collaborative opportunities for our students (eg with the Royal Anthropological Institute, UNESCO City of Film, or Bristol Museum and Art Gallery). In addition, we draw on expertise and facilities from across the University (eg Brigstow institute; Cabot Institute Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research; Jean Golding Institute). We also work closely with institutes and centres in the Faculties of Social Sciences and Arts (Bristol Institute for Migration and Mobility Studies; the Centre for Environmental Humanities; and the Centre for Health, Humanities and Science), as well as the Faculty of Science (eg Bristol Isotope Group; Organic Geochemistry Unit).