By Francine Barone Settlements are central to human development, making shelter, dwellings, and residence patterns necessary foci of investigation in both anthropology and archaeology. This article seeks to address a related and easily overlooked aspect…
By Francine Barone Food is a universal human experience. People everywhere must eat to survive, yet what foods are eaten and how they are enjoyed can vary widely across cultures and time. “Comfort foods” made…
Nascent Worlds, a teaching exercise by digital anthropologist Dr. Francine Barone, is a build-your-own-culture learning activity. Designed with introductory socio-cultural anthropology classes in mind, it incorporates all four fields of anthropology (physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology,…
By Francine Barone During the end-of-year “holiday season” throughout much of the Western world, we are often reminded to be grateful for the things that we have, and even to go out of our way…
On Friday, October 18, the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University will host an event in celebration of Archaeology Day. Each October, the Archaeological Institute of America and organizations around the world present archaeological programs…
In homage to the late Alex Trebek (1940-2020), host of the television game show Jeopardy! for 37 years, we are pleased to share a new interactive HRAF game: eHRAF Archaeology Jeoparody. A play on the…
HRAF was pleased to attend the Anthropology and Education conference in London hosted by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI). The conference took place at Senate House, University of London from June 25 to 28, 2024.…
Francine Barone Are fathers and “fatherhood” underrepresented as a subject of inquiry in anthropology? According to evolutionary anthropologist Anna Machin, up until 10 years ago, fatherhood was neglected by researchers “due to the misguided assumption…
By Francine Barone If the number of cute animal memes on the internet is a fair benchmark, then the human love of pets is a powerful and global phenomenon. For many pet owners, their furry…
HRAF is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program 2026. This program provides scholars around the world with one year of complimentary access to eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology.…