Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity,concerned with human behavior,human biology,cultures,societies,and linguistics,in both the present and past,including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior,while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning,including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans.
Biological anthropology,also known as physical anthropology,is a social science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings,their extinct hominin ancestors,and related non-human primates,particularly from an evolutionary perspective. This subfield of anthropology systematically studies human beings from a biological perspective.
Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology and its various subfields,including forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy,in a legal setting. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed,burned,mutilated or otherwise unrecognizable,as might happen in a plane crash. Forensic anthropologists are also instrumental in the investigation and documentation of genocide and mass graves. Along with forensic pathologists,forensic dentists,and homicide investigators,forensic anthropologists commonly testify in court as expert witnesses. Using physical markers present on a skeleton,a forensic anthropologist can potentially determine a person's age,sex,stature,and race. In addition to identifying physical characteristics of the individual,forensic anthropologists can use skeletal abnormalities to potentially determine cause of death,past trauma such as broken bones or medical procedures,as well as diseases such as bone cancer.
Bioarchaeology in Europe describes the study of biological remains from archaeological sites. In the United States it is the scientific study of human remains from archaeological sites.
Jane Ellen Buikstra is an American anthropologist and bioarchaeologist. Her 1977 article on the biological dimensions of archaeology coined and defined the field of bioarchaeology in the US as the application of biological anthropological methods to the study of archaeological problems. Throughout her career,she has authored over 20 books and 150 articles. Buikstra's current research focuses on an analysis of the Phaleron cemetery near Athens,Greece.
Harry Lionel Shapiro was an American anthropologist and eugenicist.
William Montague Cobb (1904–1990) was an American board-certified physician and a physical anthropologist. As the first African-American Ph.D in anthropology,and the only one until after the Korean War,his main focus in the anthropological discipline was studying the idea of race and its negative impact on communities of color. He was also the first African-American President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His career both as a physician and a professor at Howard University was dedicated to the advancement of African-American researchers and he was heavily involved in civil rights activism. Cobb wrote prolifically and contributed both popular and scholarly articles during the course of his career. His work has been noted as a significant contribution to the development of the sub-discipline of biocultural anthropology during the first half of the 20th century. Cobb was also an accomplished educator and taught over 5000 students in the social and health sciences during his lifetime.
George R. Milner is an American archaeologist in the Department of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University. He has done archaeological research on sites encompassing a range of time periods in Illinois,Missouri,Wisconsin,and Kentucky,and has also worked in Egypt and Saipan (Micronesia). He has worked with prehistoric and historic human skeletal remains from eastern North America,Denmark,and Egypt. By using modern samples of known age from the United States,Switzerland,and Portugal,he has helped refine skeletal age estimation techniques.
The American Journal of Biological Anthropology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official journal of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. It was established in 1918 by AlešHrdlička.
Robert Spencer Corruccini is an American anthropologist,distinguished professor,Smithsonian Institution Research Fellow,Human Biology Council Fellow,and the 1994 Outstanding Scholar at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. As a medical and dental anthropologist,Corruccini is most noted for his work on the theory of malocclusion and his extensive work in a slave cemetery at Newton Plantation in Barbados.
Stillwater Marsh is an archaeology locality in the Carson Sink in western Nevada discovered when heavy flooding in the 1980s unearthed many human remains. The great diversity in plant life and altitudinally-determined microenvironments that surrounded the marsh helped to make it a popular place to live,as evidenced by archaeological findings. At Stillwater Marsh,skeletal remains were the primary means used to determine how people lived in the area. As large numbers of skeletons had not previously been found at Great Basin sites,Stillwater Marsh offered a remarkable opportunity to learn about daily life,as reflected in the human remains.
George J. Armelagos was an American anthropologist,and Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta,Georgia. Armelagos significantly impacted the field of physical anthropology and biological anthropology. His work has provided invaluable contributions to the theoretical and methodological understanding human disease,diet and human variation within an evolutionary context. Relevant topics include epidemiology,paleopathology,paleodemography,bioarchaeology,evolutionary medicine,and the social interpretations of race,among others.
Frederick Seymour Hulse was an American anthropologist.
Paul Thornell Baker was Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University,and was “one of the most influential biological anthropologists of his generation,contributing substantially to the transformation of the field from a largely descriptive to a hypothesis-driven science in the latter half of the 20th century. He pioneered multidisciplinary field science,firmly established a place for biological anthropology and human population biology in national and international science,and trained a host of graduate students in good science,who,in turn,continued his commitment to collaborative research.”
Medieval Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains recovered from medieval archaeological sites. Bioarchaeology aims to understand populations through the analysis of human skeletal remains and this application of bioarchaeology specifically aims to understand medieval populations. There is an interest in the Medieval Period when it comes to bioarchaeology,because of how differently people lived back then as opposed to now,in regards to not only their everyday life,but during times of war and famine as well. The biology and behavior of those that lived in the Medieval Period can be analyzed by understanding their health and lifestyle choices.
Margaret J. Schoeninger is an American anthropologist. She is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at The University of California San Diego,and until recently she was a Co-Director for the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropology,or CARTA. Her research is primarily focused on the evolution of the human diet and what this information can tell us about other aspects of human evolution.
B. Holly Smith is an American biological anthropologist. She is currently a research professor in the Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at The George Washington University. She is also a visiting research professor at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology. The majority of her work is concentrated in evolutionary biology,paleoanthropology,life history,and dental anthropology.
Mary Lewis is Professor of Bioarchaeology at the University of Reading. After completing a PhD in bioarchaeology at the University of Bradford in 1999,Lewis went on to lecture at Bournemouth University (2000–2004) before moving to the University of Reading in 2004. She conducted the first osteological study of a body which has been hanged,drawn,and quartered. Lewis has held editorial roles with the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology,International Journal of Paleopathology,and the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
Lucile Eleanor St. Hoyme was an American biological anthropologist who conducted research related to human variation,bioarcheology,and paleopathology. St. Hoyme served as an Assistant Curator in the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History. St. Hoyme analyzed human remains excavated from the John Kerr Reservoir Basin using a new bioarcheological approach combining data from other disciplines. Beyond her work with the Smithsonian collections,St. Hoyme also worked on FBI forensic cases in the 1960s with National Museum of Natural History Anthropology Curator J. Lawrence Angel.
Near Eastern bioarchaeology covers the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites in Cyprus,Egypt,Levantine coast,Jordan,Turkey,Iran,Saudi Arabia,Qatar,Kuwait,Bahrain,United Arab Emirates,Oman,and Yemen.
