What is Physical Anthropology?

Today the four subfields of anthropology remain at the core of the discipline. Physical anthropology considers the human species as a biologically entity as well as social animal.

Some physical anthropologists are concern primarily with pre-human and early human species, or fossil hominids.

Others concentrate on the similarities and differences among the various primate species, which include not only humans but monkeys and apes as well. This area of study is called primatology.

A third area, known as the study of human variation, or anthropological genetics, deals with contemporary as well as historical variations among human populations.

It is concern with such topics as the adaptations of a group of people to a specific climate, the natural immunity of some peoples to certain disease, and the all important question of racial differences.

By studying human nature, the variety of peoples in the world today, and in the past and the relationship of the human species to other species, we are better able to understand why we behave the way we do.

The physical anthropologists give us valuable information about our physical structure. For example, it is important to know the effects of being able to walk erect on two feet rather than having to use our hands to steady ourselves.

By providing answers to the questions of what makes human being unique among animals, physical anthropology gives us the first clues to the meaning of human behavior and the limitations on it.

It tells us why we should expect others to behave within those limitations, and what variations are possible. In other words, physical anthropology spells out the limit of human behavior.

Perhaps most important, it teaches us that no matter how much diversity we might find in the world around us, the most remarkable fact is not how different people are but how similar they are, and this is a crucial lesson in getting along in the world today.
What is Physical Anthropology?