Physical Anthropology

Physical anthropology, also known as biological anthropology, is the anthropological counterpart to the various biological sciences that deal with the study of human beings. Physical anthropology studies living human beings and also, non-human primates, along with extinct relatives and ancestors of humans, in different environmental stresses and conditions that exist, and existed, in the World. The two main aspects of study of this branch of anthropology are; human evolution and human variation. 

Human origin and evolution are one of the chief concerns of physical anthropologists. Through analysis of fossils and observation of living primates, they try to trace man's ancestry and understand his relationship with other living beings. Physical anthropology also tries to provide a comparative perspective on human uniqueness by placing Homo sapiens in the context of other living primates. The other major aim of physical anthropology is to understand human diversity and variation. being members of the same species, there is significant biological variation among the Homo sapiens. Not only visible traits but also biochemical factors such as blood type and susceptibility to diseases. Human beings have covered nearly all kinds of geographical zones of the World, hence the study of human adaptation is also an important part of physical anthropology. 

The initial concern of physical anthropology however was to describe the variation of a few features in human beings, mainly referring to measurements, computing indices and other statistics. Today, it not only describes the variation of hundreds of features but also encompasses the entire history and nature of biological change among human beings. This represents an enormous expansion in its scope. Because of the wide scope, physical anthropology can be divided into subbranches, each focusing on a different dimension of what it means to be human - from a biological perspective. Refer : Branches of - Physical/Biological Anthropology

What is Anthropology?

• Study of all humans in all times and places.
• Anthropology studies human population throughout time and space - from the earliest humans to modern city dwellers - and attempts to incorporate knowledge of them into meaningful understanding of humanity. (Miller et al.)
• Only one of the sciences of human beings, bringing together the common aims of many disciplines which describe human beings.
• Science of human being, study of man/mankind (includes both men and women) in time and space.
• Anthropology confronts basic questions of human existence and survival.
• Discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings.
• Anthropology is the myth of humankind, an explanation of our nature.
• Anthropology is the research of human beings and human behaviour and communities in the present and past. The abstract term anthropology first appeared in the works of Magnus Hundt and Otto Casmann during the German Renaissance. It was derived from the combining forms of the Greek words ánthrōpos (human) and lógos(study), which began to be used in English by the early 18th century.6 With development, many disciplines are related to anthropology nowadays, such as sociocultural, biological, archaeological, and linguistic fields. (The Anthropology Reflection on Space and Place, BilingYang)
• Anthropology is the study of humanity across time and space. Anthropologists study every possible realm of human experience, thought, activity, and organization. Human as we are, we can only engage in social and natural worlds through our human minds and human bodies. Even engagement with nonhuman realms such as astronomy and botany is conditioned by our human senses and human cognition and thus varies across different societies and different time periods. You may be thinking, If anthropology is the human aspect of absolutely everything, then does anthropology encompass the other social disciplines, such as political science, religious studies, and economics? This is not the case. Certainly, anthropologists are frequently multidisciplinary, meaning that while their research and teaching are focused within the discipline of anthropology, they also engage with other disciplines and work with researchers and teachers in other fields. But the way that scholars in the other social disciplines approach their subject matter is different from the way anthropologists approach those same subjects. The distinctive approach of anthropology relies on a central narrative, or story, about humanity as well as a set of scholarly commitments. This central story and these common commitments hold the discipline together, enabling anthropologists to combine insights from diverse fields into one complex portrait of what it means to be human. Anthropology is everything, but it’s not just anything. Anthropology is the study of humanity guided by a distinctive narrative and set of commitments. (Introduction to Anthropology, Open Stax)

• "Anthropology is the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the humanities." -Alfred L. Kroeber.

References: Collected