1: Introduction to Biological Anthropology

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Learning Objectives

Define anthropology and the main anthropological approaches.
Describe the origins and early development of anthropology.
Identify the four subdisciplines of anthropology and specify the focus of each one.
Define biological anthropology, describe its key questions, and identify major subfields.
Explain key components of the scientific method.
Differentiate between hypotheses, theories, and laws.
Differentiate science from other ways of knowing.

Image: Neanderthal Skulls. (April 10, 2005). By leted under CC BY-NC 2.0 via flickr

1.1: What is Anthropology?
Why are people so diverse? What makes people differ from one another? What do we all share in common? How are humans different from other primates? How have primates adapted to different places? How and why did humans develop in the first place? These are some of the questions anthropologists try to answer.
1.2: The Subdisciplines
Since human experiences are varied and complex, we need a diversified tool kit to study them. Anthropology comprises four subdisciplines: Some are more scientific (like biological anthropology), while others are more humanistic (like cultural anthropology). Findings from all four subdisciplines contribute to a multifaceted appreciation of human bio-cultural experiences, past and present.
1.3: What is Biological Anthropology
The focus of this book is the anthropological subdiscipline of biological anthropology, which is the study of the human species from a biological perspective. Biological anthropology uses a scientific and evolutionary approach to answer many of the same questions all anthropologists are concerned with.
1.4: Anthropologists as Scientists
Biological anthropologists use the scientific method as a way of learning about the world around them. Many people think of science as taking place in a sterile laboratory, and sometimes it does, but in biological anthropology, it also occurs many other places. To understand how information in this field is established, it is important to recognize what science is as well as understand how the scientific method works.
1.5: Ways of Knowing
In anthropology, we recognize that there are many ways people have of knowing things. Human knowledge is very diverse. Some knowledge is gained through personal experience and others is gained through the experience of others. The degree to which humans rely on and benefit from the experiential knowledge of others is an important characteristic of what makes us human!
1.6: End of Chapter Review
Discussion questions and key term definitions.
1.7: Meet the Authors

Acknowledgment

We are grateful to Lahcen Mourad, J.D., Moroccan Arabic educator and scholar, for sharing insights from his scholarship on the legacy of Ibn Battuta and his influence on the early development of the social sciences.