Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline that studies the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an evolutionary perspective. It is a subfield of anthropology that systematically studies human beings from a biological perspective. Biological anthropology is divided into several branches, all of which apply evolutionary theory to understanding human biology and behavior:
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Human biology: an interdisciplinary field of biology, biological anthropology, nutrition, and medicine, which concerns international, population-level perspectives on health, evolution, anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and genetics.
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Paleoanthropology: the study of human evolution through the analysis of fossils and other physical remains.
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Primatology: the study of non-human primates, particularly their behavior and biology.
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Forensic anthropology: the application of biological anthropology to legal cases, such as identifying human remains.
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Human ecology: the study of the relationship between humans and their environment.
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Bioarchaeology: the study of human remains from archaeological sites.
Biological anthropology is unique in that it combines both social and biological sciences, making it a biosocial science. It is concerned with understanding human evolution, from our origins and diversity in the past to our probable future as inhabitants of this planet. Biological anthropology uses data from evolutionary theory, primatology, comparative anatomy, genetics, and paleontology to understand the latest hypotheses regarding human evolution and modern human behavioral biology.
