CUET Anthropology Syllabus 2026: Get Important Topics, Exam Pattern

Unit-1

Physical Anthropology

Preliminary knowledge of Human genetics. Mendel’s Laws of Heredity Monohybrid and Dihybrid ratio.

Definition of Race and Racial criteria, the significance of skin color, Eye form and color, Head form, and ABa blood groups as racial criteria.

Racial classification, distinctive physical features, and geographical distribution of the major racial groups of men: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australoid.

Unit-2

Prehistoric Archaeology

Tool Making: Techniques of manufacturing core and flake tools, primary and secondary flaking, pressure flaking, grinding, and polishing. Materials used in making prehistoric tools.

Tool families: Pebble tools, Handaxe, Cleaver, Scrapers, Microliths, Points, Blades, Awl, Graver, Celts, Sickles, Spearhead, Arrow-head, and Bone tools.

Prehistoric Cultures: A brief outline of the following prehistoric cultures of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods-

A comparative study of the salient features of Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures.

Unit-3

Material culture and economic Anthropology

Economic life: meaning and aspects, characteristic features of the primitive or simple economic system.

Subsistence economy: domestication of animals-pastoralism, agriculture-shifting cultivation, horticulture, terrace cultivation, and plough cultivation.

A brief outline of the methods of hunting, fishing, and agriculture with reference to Various communities of North East India as far as practicable.

Unit-4

Social Anthropology and Ethnography

A: Social Anthropology :

Family: Definition, forms, and types: nuclear family, joint family, a family of orientation, family of procreation, monogamous and polygamous (polygynous and polyandrous).

Clustered relationship in a nuclear family.

Rules of residence: Patrilocal, matrilocal, neolocal, avancolocal, bi - local, matripatri local.
Rules of descent: Patrilineal and matrilineal descent.

Functions of family, social nature of family.

B: Ethnography :

A brief outline of the land and people of North-East India.

Study of material culture and economic life of the following communities

The Garo: Shifting or Jhum cultivation.

The Mishing: Plough cultivation

A study of the social organization of the Ao Naga and the Apatani.

Unit-5

Ecology

Meaning and definition of ecology and environment.

Elements of the environment: Solid, liquid, and gas.

Physical or abiotic environment, biological or biotic environment, and socio-cultural environment.

Man is the main agent to disturb the ecological balance.

Section IA (Language)

40 questions to be attempted out of 50 in each language

Language to be tested through Reading Comprehension based on different types of passages–Factual, Literary and Narrative, (Literary Aptitude and Vocabulary)

Section IB

Section II (Domain Subject)

35/40 Questions to be attempted out of 45/50

Input text can be used for MCQ Based Questions

MCQs based on NCERT Class 12 syllabus only

Section III (General Test)

50 Questions to be attempted out of 60

Input text can be used for MCQ Based Questions

General Knowledge, Current Affairs, General Mental Ability, Numerical Ability, Quantitative Reasoning (Simple application of basic mathematical concepts arithmetic/algebra geometry/mensuration/s tat taught till Grade 8), Logical and Analytical Reasoning

CUET Anthropology Mapping for Courses

Bachelor of Science B.Sc. (Biology) (Anthropology), Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Anthropology (Honours / Research), BA (Hons) in Anthropology, Integrated B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology