Introduction

eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology are online databases that contain information on present and past aspects of cultural and social life. The member-supported, annually growing eHRAF databases are organized by cultures and/or archaeological traditions.

While both applications are similar, this guide is specifically for eHRAF World Cultures. Click this link for the guide to eHRAF Archaeology.

Two thesauri organize the collections in eHRAF: the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) and Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM). eHRAF is unique among other research databases in having subject indexing at the paragraph level which allows for detailed and more precise searching for concepts not easily found with keywords. Designed with cross-cultural researchers in mind, eHRAF differs from other academic online databases that you may be used to. It provides at your fingertips the ability to browse and search across our ethnographic collection comprising hundreds of world cultures and archaeological traditions.

eHRAF is used by students, faculty and researchers to explore, discover and learn about anthropological concepts; to concentrate closely on one or more ethnic groups or regions of the world; and to conduct extensive cross-cultural investigations for comparative research.

This guide will take you through all aspects of the eHRAF interface, key organizational concepts, how to browse, search, navigate and save your results.

For a quick overview of the basics of eHRAF, check out the eHRAF Quick Start Guide.