john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Careers in anthropology

Wed, 2010-08-25 08:30 -- John Hawks

The Guardian has a helpful entry in its series on careers: "What to do with a degree in anthropology."

Most don't pursue graduate work:

Of the anthropology graduates who left university in 2008, 51% were in employment after six months in a diverse range of careers such as advertising and sales (8%), business and finance (6%) and public or private sector management (12%). However, a large number were working in catering (15%) or in clerical roles (20%) – no doubt a reflection of the current scarcity of graduate-level jobs.

I think there is no degree that articulates so well with a broad range of other fields -- there are ways to combine anthropology with everything from history to engineering. That's one reason why graduates have such a broad range of careers, they're led by their interests in other fields as well.

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.