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{{Anthropology |types |topimage=Primate skull series with legend cropped.png|topcaption={{hlist |[[Primate]] skulls. From left to right: [[Human skull|Human]] |[[Common chimpanzee|Chimpanzee]] |[[Orangutan]] |[[Macaque]]}}}}
'''Biological anthropology''', also known as '''physical anthropology''', is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct [[Hominini|hominin]] ancestors, and related non-human [[primate]]s, particularly from an evolutionary perspective.<ref>Jurmain, R, ''et al'' (2015), ''Introduction to Physical Anthropology'', Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.</ref> This subfield of
== 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.
* [[Bioarchaeology]] is the study of past human cultures through examination of human remains recovered in an [[archaeology|archaeological]] context. The examined human remains usually are limited to bones but may include preserved soft tissue. Researchers in bioarchaeology combine the skill sets of [[human osteology]], [[paleopathology]], and [[archaeology]], and often consider the cultural and mortuary context of the remains.
* [[Evolutionary biology]] is the study of the [[evolution|evolutionary processes]] that produced the [[Biodiversity|diversity of life]] on [[Earth]], starting from [[Last universal common ancestor|a single common ancestor]]. These processes include [[natural selection]], [[common descent]], and [[speciation]].
* [[Evolutionary psychology]] is the study of psychological structures from a modern [[evolution]]ary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved [[adaptation]]s – that is, the functional products of [[natural selection]] or [[sexual selection in human evolution]].
* [[Forensic anthropology]] is the application of the science of
* [[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 [[Adaptation|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 (biology)|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 [[Phylogenetics|phylogenetic]] methods to infer which traits humans share with other primates and which are human-specific adaptations.
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== History ==
=== Origins ===
[[File:Johann Friedrich Blumenbach.jpg|thumb|
[[File:FranzBoas.jpg|thumb|
Biological Anthropology looks different today
Attempts to study and classify human beings as living organisms date back to ancient Greece. The Greek philosopher [[Plato]] ({{circa}} 428–{{circa}} 347 BC) placed humans on the ''[[scala naturae]]'', which included all things, from inanimate objects at the bottom to deities at the top.<ref name="Spencer1997">{{cite book|last=Spencer|first=Frank|date=1997|chapter=Aristotle (384–322 BC)|title=History of Physical Anthropology|editor-last=Spencer|editor-first=Frank|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QP8u1RHKQAUC&q=Plato%2C+Aristotle+physical+anthropology&pg=PA107|volume=1|location=New York City, New York and London, England|publisher=Garland Publishing|isbn=978-0-8153-0490-6|pages=107–108}}</ref> This became the main system through which scholars thought about nature for the next roughly 2,000 years.<ref name="Spencer1997"/> Plato's student [[Aristotle]] ({{circa}} 384–322 BC) observed in his ''[[History of Animals]]'' that human beings are the only animals to walk upright<ref name="Spencer1997"/> and argued, in line with his [[teleology|teleological]] view of nature, that humans have [[buttocks]] and no tails in order to give them a
The first prominent physical anthropologist, the German physician [[Johann Friedrich Blumenbach]] (1752–1840) of [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], amassed a large collection of human skulls (''Decas craniorum'', published during 1790–1828), from which he argued for the division of humankind into five major races (termed [[Caucasoid|Caucasian]], [[Mongoloid|Mongolian]], [[Negroid|Aethiopian]], [[Malayan race|Malayan]] and [[Native peoples of the Americas|American]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anatomie.uni-goettingen.de/en/blumenbach.html |title=The Blumenbach Skull Collection at the Centre of Anatomy, University Medical Centre Göttingen |publisher=University of Goettingen |access-date= February 12, 2017}}</ref> In the 19th century, French physical anthropologists, led by [[Paul Broca]] (
In the 1830s and
In the late 19th century, German-American anthropologist [[Franz Boas]] (
===
In 1951 [[Sherwood Washburn]], a former student of Hooton, introduced a "new physical anthropology."<ref>Washburn, S. L. (1951)
== Notable biological anthropologists ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
<!-- Alphabetical by surname: -->
* [[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 (academic)| Robert Foley]]
* [[Jane Goodall]]
* [[Joseph Henrich]]
* [[Earnest Hooton]]
* [[Aleš Hrdlička]]
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* [[Colin Groves]]
* [[Yohannes Haile-Selassie]]
* [[Ralph Holloway]]
* [[William W. Howells]]
* [[Donald Johanson]]
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* [[Louis Leakey]]
* [[Mary Leakey]]
* [[Richard Leakey]]
* [[Frank B. Livingstone]]
* [[Owen Lovejoy (anthropologist)|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]]
* [[
* [[
* [[
* [[Frans de Waal]]
* [[Sherwood Washburn]]
* [[David P. Watts|David Watts]]
* [[Tim White (anthropologist)|Tim White]]
* [[Milford H. Wolpoff]]
* [[Richard Wrangham]]
* [[Teuku Jacob]]
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* [[Paleontology]]
* [[Primatology]]
* [[Race (human categorization)]]
* [[Sociobiology]]
{{colend}}
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== Further reading ==
{{main|List of important publications in anthropology}}
* 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
* Brown, Ryan A and Armelagos, George, [https://web.archive.org/web/20041109031049/http://www.stanford.edu/class/ihum62/pdf/brown_armelagos2001.pdf "Apportionment of Racial Diversity: A Review"], ''[[Evolutionary Anthropology (journal)|Evolutionary Anthropology]]'' 10:34–40 2001
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130106212400/http://anthro.palomar.edu/vary/vary_2.htm Modern Human Variation: Models of Classification]
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==External links==
{{
{{Commonscat|Biological anthropology}}
* [[American Association of
* [http://www.babao.org.uk/ British Association of Biological Anthropologists and Osteoarchaeologists]
* [http://www.humbio.org/ Human Biology Association]
* [http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~chan/capa/ Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060926070422/http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/research/recon_wiki.htm ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo neanderthalensis'' reconstructions] – Electronic articles published by the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.
* [http://www.isita-org.com/isita/index.htm Istituto Italiano di Antropologia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016085758/http://www.isita-org.com/isita/index.htm |date=2008-10-16 }}
* [http://www.isita-org.com/jass/ Journal of Anthropological Sciences] – free full text review articles available
* [http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c720126/humanethologie/ws/medicus/block1/MappingISBN1-59454-212-0.pdf Mapping Transdisciplinarity in Anthropology] pdf
* [http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c720126/humanethologie/ws/medicus/block1/TheoryHumanSci.ppt Fundamental Theory of Human Sciences] ppt
* [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291520-6300 American Journal of Human Biology]
* [http://www.humbiol.com/ Human Biology, The International Journal of Population Genetics and Anthropology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204020213/http://www.humbiol.com/ |date=2011-02-04 }}
* [http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/622964/editorialboard Economics and Human Biology]
* [http://groups.anthropology.northwestern.edu/lhbr/ Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150828135501/http://groups.anthropology.northwestern.edu/lhbr/ |date=2015-08-28 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110818034435/https://humbio.stanford.edu/ The Program in Human Biology at Stanford]
* [http://www.physanthphylogeny.org/tree/ Academic Genealogical Tree of Physical Anthropologists]{{Dead link|date=May 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
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{{Authority control}}
[[Category: Anthropology| Anthropology]]▼
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biological Anthropology}}
[[Category:Biological anthropology| ]]
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