What Are the Different Types of Anthropology?
Anthropology is he study of human beings. It used to be part of philosophy, but since becoming a science it has further divided into several closely related disciplines. Biological anthropology studies the evolution of the human body. Cultural anthropology studies the structure of societies -- both historical and current. Linguistic anthropology studies the history and development of human languages. Archaeology studies societies based on the excavation of historical sites.
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Biological Anthropology
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Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, studies the evolution of the human body and the racial difference between the different populations of humans. A lot of their work is with bones -- especially teeth. This is largely because these hard parts of the body are all we have from ancient humans. An expert in physical anthropology can tell from a single tooth if the tooth came from a human or an ape -- human teeth have a distinct 5 lobe face -- called the Y5 pattern. In some cases the anthropologist can even tell the race of the person the tooth came from. For example, Eskimos and American Indians have a distinct groove in the backs of their incisors.
Cultural Anthropology
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Cultural anthropologists are interested in things like kinship structures and the way people -- especially ancient and primitive people -- govern themselves. Cultural anthropologist are interested in things like marriage customs and relationships between parents and children -- things that do not leave artifacts. Cultural anthropology tends to involve anthropologists living with the society they are studying -- learning the language, eating the food and often wearing the clothes. The question of how much to integrate into the society and how aloof the anthropologist should remain is a constant concern.
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Linguistic Anthropology
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Linguistic anthropologists study language. They are interested in the evolution of particular languages and how different languages are related. For example, consider the puzzle of the Basque language. The Romance languages -- Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, etc. -- are usually a mixture of primitive indigenous languages and Latin -- dating from the time of the Romans conquest of the world. The Basque are located between France and Spain -- completely surrounded by the countries that the Romans conquered. The Basque language has no relation to Latin or any other language. This, plus certain physical characteristics, suggest to some anthropologists that the Basque are the remnants of Neanderthals. The linguistic evidence lends weight to this intriguing theory.
Archaeology
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Archaeology is the popular face of anthropology. Archaeologist are the anthropologists who go to exotic locations and dig things up. The dividing line between history and archaeology is usually taken as the beginning of writing. Objects that date from a time after the written record begins in a culture are historical objects. Objects that date from a time before the advent of literacy are considered archaeological objects. Archaeologists study a period that comprises 99 percent of human history. Typically, archaeologists are interested in buildings, art, artifacts and objects manufactured by humans.
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