Biological Anthropology

Biological (physical) anthropology studies humans as a biological species — evolution, genetics, primatology, and human variation.

Scope

It covers human evolution and the fossil record, primatology, human genetics and variation, and the interplay of biology and culture.

Core questions

• How did humans evolve?
• How are humans related to other primates?
• How and why do human populations vary biologically?
• How do biology and culture interact?

Key concepts

• Human evolution
• Natural and sexual selection
• Primatology
• Human variation
• Paleoanthropology
• Adaptation

Key theories

Human evolution

Darwin placed humans within evolutionary theory and sexual selection.

The new physical anthropology

Washburn reoriented the field from typology toward evolutionary process and population genetics.

History

Physical anthropology shifted from nineteenth-century typology and (discredited) racial classification to an evolutionary, population-genetic 'new physical anthropology' (Washburn) and modern paleoanthropology and primatology.

Debates

Typology versus population thinking

The field's move from fixed racial 'types' to evolutionary population variation.

Key figures

• Charles Darwin
• Sherwood Washburn

Seminal works

• darwin-1871
• washburn-1951

Frequently asked questions

Does biological anthropology support the concept of human races?

No; modern biological anthropology treats human variation as clinal and continuous, not as discrete biological races.