Anthropology is the science of the origins and the development of human beings and their culture. The word anthropology has first been used by Greek philosopher Aristotle. It derives from two Greek words: “anthropos” meaning “man” or “human” and “logos” meaning “thought” or “reason”. Anthropologists investigate the whole range of human development and behavior, including biological variation, geographic distribution, evolutionary history, cultural records, and social relationships. Let’s now discuss what the anthropology is.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“the science of humanity,” which studies human beings in aspects ranging from the biology and evolutionary history of Homo sapiens to the features of society and culture that decisively distinguish humans from other animal species.
Anthropologist Conrad Phillip Kottak states:
“Anthropology is the scientific and humanistic study of the human species.”
Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary defines anthropology as:
“the study of the human race, its culture and society and its physical development.”
Anthropologist Hoebel describes anthropology as
“the study of mankind as a whole.”
From our above discussion we can say that, anthropologists describe humans and their cultures, from prehistoric times to today and try to find out what the first human societies were like. They research how cultures and languages developed.
Now we will discuss the classification of anthropology as well the usefulness in our following discussion. It is mainly divided by four kinds such as:
1. Cultural anthropology, the study of human society and culture, involves the study of people living in present-day societies and their cultures. Cultural anthropologists study such topics as how people make their living, how people interact with each other, what beliefs people hold, and what institutions organize people in a society. Cultural anthropologists often live for months or years with the people they study. This is called fieldwork. Some must learn new and sometimes unwritten languages, and this may require extra training in linguistics (the study of the sounds and grammar of languages). Cultural anthropologists commonly write book-length (and sometimes shorter) accounts of their fieldwork, known as ethnographies.
2. Physical anthropology, the scientific study of the biological aspects of human beings including their shape, size, and anatomy, also known as biological anthropology, concentrates on the connections between human biology and culture. Some physical anthropologists, like some archaeologists, study human evolution. But physical anthropologists focus on the evolution of human anatomy and physiology, rather than culture. Areas of particular interest include the evolution of the brain, especially the areas of the brain associated with speech and complex thought; of the vocal apparatus necessary for speech; of upright posture; and of hands capable of making and using tools. Physical anthropologists work from the belief that humans are primates. Primatology, the study of the behavior and physiology of nonhuman primates, is a specialized area of interest within physical anthropology.
3. Archaeology, the scientific study of past human culture and behaviour, from the origins of human to the present, focuses on the study of past, rather than living, human societies and culture. Most archaeologists study artifacts (the remains of items made by past humans, such as tools, pottery, and buildings) and human fossils (preserved bones). They also examine past environments to understand how natural forces, such as climate and available food, shaped the development of human culture. Some archaeologists study cultures that existed before the development of writing, a time known as prehistory. The archaeological study of periods of human evolution up to the first development of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, is also called paleoanthropology. Other archaeologists study more recent cultures by examining both their material remains and written documents, a practice known as historical archaeology.
4. Linguistics anthropology, the scientific study of language, focuses on how people use language in particular cultures. Those who practice this form of anthropology have a substantial amount of training in linguistics. Linguistic anthropologists often work with people who have unwritten (purely spoken, or oral) languages or with languages that very few people speak. Linguistic anthropological work may involve developing a way to write a formerly unwritten language. Cultures often use these written versions to teach their children the language and thus keep it in use. Some linguistic anthropologists specialize in reconstructing dead languages (languages no longer in use) and their connections to living languages, a study known as historical linguistics.
Last of all we can say that, each of these is basically an independent science, though specialists in one field frequently consult and cooperate with scholars in the other. Physical anthropology is generally classified as a natural science, while cultural anthropology is considered a social science.
