Anthropology is ‘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. Learn more about the history and branches of anthropology in this article. Anthropology - Culture, Society, Human Behavior: A distinctive “social” or “cultural” anthropology emerged in the 1920s.

Understanding the Context

It was associated with the social sciences and linguistics, rather than with human biology and archaeology. In Britain in particular social anthropologists came to regard themselves as comparative sociologists, but the assumption persisted that anthropologists were ... Physical anthropology is the branch that concentrates on the biology and evolution of humanity. The branches that study the social and cultural constructions of human groups are variously recognized as belonging to cultural anthropology (or ethnology), social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and psychological anthropology.

Key Insights

The discovery of fossilised human remains in the Sahara Desert has marked a new era in research on the history of human evolution. Researchers have discovered skeletons dating back 7,000 years that do ... MSN: New Fossil Discovery Might Prove That Two Different Extinct Human Species Coexisted A recent discovery at Lake Turkana in Kenya has scientists thinking there may have been two ancestral human species — or hominins — coexisting together. Thanks to a patch of wet silt that was buried ... New Fossil Discovery Might Prove That Two Different Extinct Human Species Coexisted Dailymotion on MSN: Discovery of fossilized human footprints in an ancient lakebed