Discuss aims and scope of physical/biological anthropology.

 Aims of physical/biological anthropology:– The broad based understanding of human organism is the strength of physical anthropology. Not only this, physical anthropology integrates bio-cultural studies of human diversity, the ancestors of human species, comparative anatomy, ecology, behaviour and history of primates.

Physical anthropologists are interested in studying human genetics, growth and development and evolutionary history. They attempt to accurately describe human physical structure both past and present and also investigate how function and behaviour are integrated into the environment in which human beings live.

Human biology has many times been erroneously used as a synonym for physical anthropology although, there is clear cut area for both the fields. Human biology comprises structure and function of contemporary man, whereas physical anthropology refers to all that is chronological, racial, social and even pathological groupings of human.

They are very close knit, yet they maintain individual identity in working methods, techniques and objectives. 

Scope of physical/biological anthropology: With so much information getting unveiled, do you think physical anthropology is merely an academic subject? On the contrary, the recent years reflect an ever increasing recognition of what anthropology has discovered and can discover about humans.

The essence of physical anthropology right from its inception remains focused on man’s physical characters, their origin, how they evolved and their development to present state that is, whatever we are today is the result of past and present conditions.

Physical anthropology is widely accepted as the comparative science of man as a physical organism in context to his total surrounding be it social or cultural or physical; because development of his physical and cultural factors is reliant on the environment prevailing at that time. What makes physical anthropology so indispensable?

The answer lies in the very fact that the understanding and assessment of the degree of human variability along with the accounting of factors responsible for our current distribution have been of vital concern. Major answer lies in the fields of genetics and anthropometry which has been used in approximating the causes of diversification and human variation.

Human variation is a specialised branch of physical anthropology. The stages of evolution particularly the’prehuman’ history of man to his present form is the basis of Primatology. It also includes the study of human biology including anatomy, physiology and ethology. Undeniable is the contribution of Primate Palaeontology on extinct primates.

This entire phenomenon tracing the origin of man and his evolution comes under Palaeoanthropology.  Appropriate evaluation of the remains of fossil men in evolutionary outlook requires the contribution of comparative anatomy as well as embryology or developmental anatomy and physiology of growth. Human diversity, another important component of physical anthropology takes into account human taxonomy, which in anthropological perspective refers to study of races.

It was decided to replace the term ‘race’ with ‘ethnic group’ due to the misuse of the term, but then again the term is being revived. The inclusion of human genetics as an essential component of physical anthropology has witnessed tremendous growth even occupying place in health magazine about a disease cell or gene therapy to treat diseases.

Whatever it may be, there would undoubtedly be some information related to the field of genetics. Patterns of inheritance of trait in humans have generated tremendous interest. The assessment of the distribution and the gene frequency of the traits form an important basis for evaluating the continuous process of human differentiation.

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