Biological anthropology
Part of a series on |
Anthropology |
---|
Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct
Branches
As a subfield of anthropology, biological anthropology itself is further divided into several branches. All branches are united in their common orientation and/or application of evolutionary theory to understanding human biology and behavior.
- human osteology, paleopathology, and archaeology, and often consider the cultural and mortuary context of the remains.
- Evolutionary biology is the study of the evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth, starting from a single common ancestor. These processes include natural selection, common descent, and speciation.
- sexual selection in human evolution.
- Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology and human osteology in a legal setting, most often in criminal cases where the victim's remains are in the advanced stages of decomposition.
- Human behavioral ecology is the study of behavioral adaptations (foraging, reproduction, ontogeny) from the evolutionary and ecologic perspectives (see behavioral ecology). It focuses on human adaptive responses (physiological, developmental, genetic) to environmental stresses.
- Human biology is an interdisciplinary field of biology, biological anthropology, nutrition and medicine, which concerns international, population-level perspectives on health, evolution, anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and genetics.
- Paleoanthropology is the study of fossil evidence for human evolution, mainly using remains from extinct hominin and other primate species to determine the morphological and behavioral changes in the human lineage, as well as the environment in which human evolution occurred.
- Paleopathology is the study of disease in antiquity. This study focuses not only on pathogenic conditions observable in bones or mummified soft tissue, but also on nutritional disorders, variation in stature or morphology of bones over time, evidence of physical trauma, or evidence of occupationally derived biomechanic stress.
- Primatology is the study of non-human primate behavior, morphology, and genetics. Primatologists use phylogenetic methods to infer which traits humans share with other primates and which are human-specific adaptations.
History
Origins
Biological Anthropology looks different today from the way it did even twenty years ago. Even the name is relatively new, having been 'physical anthropology' for over a century, with some practitioners still applying that term.[2] Biological anthropologists look back to the work of Charles Darwin as a major foundation for what they do today. However, if one traces the intellectual genealogy back to physical anthropology's beginnings—before the discovery of much of what we now know as the hominin fossil record—then the focus shifts to human biological variation. Some editors, see below, have rooted the field even deeper than formal science.
Attempts to study and classify human beings as living organisms date back to ancient Greece. The Greek philosopher
The first prominent physical anthropologist, the German physician
In the 1830s and 40s, physical anthropology was prominent in the debate about
In the late 19th century, German-American anthropologist Franz Boas (1858–1942) strongly impacted biological anthropology by emphasizing the influence of culture and experience on the human form. His research showed that head shape was malleable to environmental and nutritional factors rather than a stable "racial" trait.[10] However, scientific racism still persisted in biological anthropology, with prominent figures such as Earnest Hooton and Aleš Hrdlička promoting theories of racial superiority[11] and a European origin of modern humans.[12]
"New Physical Anthropology"
In 1951 Sherwood Washburn, a former student of Hooton, introduced a "new physical anthropology."[13] He changed the focus from racial typology to concentrate upon the study of human evolution, moving away from classification towards evolutionary process. Anthropology expanded to include paleoanthropology and primatology.[14] The 20th century also saw the modern synthesis in biology: the reconciling of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's research on heredity. Advances in the understanding of the molecular structure of DNA and the development of chronological dating methods opened doors to understanding human variation, both past and present, more accurately and in much greater detail.
Notable biological anthropologists
- Zeresenay Alemseged
- John Lawrence Angel
- George J. Armelagos
- William M. Bass
- Caroline Bond Day
- Jane E. Buikstra
- William Montague Cobb
- Carleton S. Coon
- Robert Corruccini
- Raymond Dart
- Robin Dunbar
- Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt
- Linda Fedigan
- A. Roberto Frisancho
- Robert Foley
- Jane Goodall
- Joseph Henrich
- Earnest Hooton
- Aleš Hrdlička
- Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
- Anténor Firmin
- Dian Fossey
- Birute Galdikas
- Richard Lynch Garner
- Colin Groves
- Yohannes Haile-Selassie
- Ralph Holloway
- William W. Howells
- Donald Johanson
- Robert Jurmain
- Melvin Konner
- Louis Leakey
- Mary Leakey
- Richard Leakey
- Frank B. Livingstone
- Owen Lovejoy
- Ruth Mace
- Jonathan M. Marks
- Robert D. Martin
- Russell Mittermeier
- Desmond Morris
- Douglas W. Owsley
- David Pilbeam
- Kathy Reichs
- Alice Roberts
- Pardis Sabeti
- Robert Sapolsky
- Eugenie C. Scott
- Meredith Small
- Chris Stringer
- Phillip V. Tobias
- Douglas H. Ubelaker
- Frans de Waal
- Sherwood Washburn
- David Watts
- Tim White
- Milford H. Wolpoff
- Richard Wrangham
- Teuku Jacob
- Biraja Sankar Guha
See also
- Anthropometry, the measurement of the human individual
- Biocultural anthropology
- Ethology
- Evolutionary anthropology
- Evolutionary biology
- Evolutionary psychology
- Human evolution
- Paleontology
- Primatology
- Race (human categorization)
- Sociobiology
References
- ^ Jurmain, R, et al (2015), Introduction to Physical Anthropology, Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
- ^ Ellison, Peter T. (2018). "The evolution of physical anthropology". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 165.4: 615–625. 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8153-0490-6.
- ^ Marks, J. (1995) Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
- ^ "The Blumenbach Skull Collection at the Centre of Anatomy, University Medical Centre Göttingen". University of Goettingen. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
- ^ "Memoir of Paul Broca". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 10: 242–261. 1881. JSTOR 2841526.
- ^ "Rudolf Carl Virchow facts, information, pictures". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
- ISBN 9781584650065. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
- ^ "Exploring U.S. History The Debate Over Slavery, Excerpts from Samuel George Morton, Crania Americana". RRCHNM. Archived from the original on December 11, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
- ^ Moore, Jerry D. (2009). "Franz Boas: Culture in Context". Visions of Culture: an Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. Walnut Creek, California: Altamira. pp. 33–46.
- ^ American Anthropological Association. "Eugenics and Physical Anthropology." 2007. August 7, 2007.
- OCLC 36181117.
- ^ Washburn, S. L. (1951) "The New Physical Anthropology", Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Series II, 13:298–304.
- ^ Haraway, D. (1988) "Remodelling the Human Way of Life: Sherwood Washburn and the New Physical Anthropology, 1950–1980", in Bones, Bodies, Behavior: Essays on Biological Anthropology, of the History of Anthropology, v.5, G. Stocking, ed., Madison, Wisc., University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 205–259.
Further reading
- Michael A. Little and Kenneth A.R. Kennedy, eds. Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century, (Lexington Books; 2010); 259 pages; essays on the field from the late 19th to the late 20th century; topics include Sherwood L. Washburn(1911–2000) and the "new physical anthropology"
- Brown, Ryan A and Armelagos, George, "Apportionment of Racial Diversity: A Review", Evolutionary Anthropology 10:34–40 2001
- Modern Human Variation: Models of Classification
- Redman, Samuel J. Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2016.
External links
- American Association of Biological Anthropologists [1]
- British Association of Biological Anthropologists and Osteoarchaeologists
- Human Biology Association
- Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology
- Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis reconstructions – Electronic articles published by the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.
- Istituto Italiano di Antropologia Archived 2008-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
- Journal of Anthropological Sciences – free full text review articles available
- Mapping Transdisciplinarity in Anthropology pdf
- Fundamental Theory of Human Sciences ppt
- American Journal of Human Biology
- Human Biology, The International Journal of Population Genetics and Anthropology Archived 2011-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Economics and Human Biology
- Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University Archived 2015-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
- The Program in Human Biology at Stanford
- Academic Genealogical Tree of Physical Anthropologists[permanent dead link]