Our PhD Program

Our Ph.D. Program

The archaeology graduate program in the Department of Anthropology aims to provide students with a solid foundation in the major subfields of anthropology as well as anthropological archaeology. The curriculum combines theoretical and methodological training with a regional foci generally in the Pacific Rim, including east, southeast, and south Asia, western North America, and Mesoamerica. Our students benefit from our close relationship with the Archaeology Interdepartmental Program and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, which enables archaeological study and training unlike most programs in North America. Faculty and students engaged in archaeology are located across a wide range of departments at UCLA, yet interact and work together through the Cotsen Institute. The Cotsen Institute supports archaeological research and public outreach, houses archaeological laboratories, and hosts numerous archaeology-focused talks and seminars. Archaeological study at UCLA is unique in its breadth and inclusion of perspectives from anthropology, classics, art history, area studies, conservation, and the material sciences.

The archaeology program at the Department of Anthropology is different from the Archaeology IDP, but students in both programs work closely with each other. In fact, students from both programs take the same Archaeology core series in their first year. Students in the Department of Anthropology also take core seminars in Cultural Anthropology and Biological Anthropology, and also work with their peers and faculty in the larger anthropology graduate program. The remainder of course work is fulfilled through seminars and laboratory/field courses. The faculty place a strong emphasis on students’ independent professional development, encouraging our students to participate in field work in multiple regions, present at regional, national, and international scholarly meetings, and publish their own research.

The Department of Anthropology awards all graduate students offered admission multiple-year funding packages that include a mix of fellowship years and teaching assistantships. Our students regularly secure further support through national programs (NSF, Ford Foundation) and in campus wide competitions for fellowship funding, including Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships, Graduate Research Mentorships (both summer and academic year) and Dissertation Year Fellowships. Students are also eligible to apply for department and campus support for conference participation and research.

Application information is available on the Department of Anthropology webpage.