Human beings are unique in their quest to understand the origin of life, and the urge rationalize nature and the world that surrounds them. We have developed various disciplines to better understand the natural world around us (Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology) and ourselves (Psychology, Physiology etc.). Anthropology is a discipline that tries to understand what it means to be human by looking at biological, evolutionary, cultural, and linguistic aspects. The word “Anthropology” is derived from Greek “Anthropos” meaning human and “Logos” meaning word(Lewis, Jurmain, & Kilgore, 2012). There are four major subfields of anthropology viz., biological, archeological, linguistic and cultural. Some of the key concepts of anthropology relate to culture, cultural relativism, diversity, change and holism. In this article, we try to understand how each of these subfields explain the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens.
Biological/Physical anthropology
Physical anthropology primarily delves into human biology and evolution to shed light on some of the most crucial aspects of human origin. Paleoanthropology deals with the different facets of human evolution by looking at fossil record evidence. Anthropometry is a branch of anthropology that is used to measure humans to see how evolutionary forces have shaped the human form throughout the ages. Physical anthropology lays focus on early hominins and non-human primate biology along with fossil records to ascertain the direction of human evolution. While cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology deal with the transmission of culture and language respectively, physical anthropology has a more holistic approach that draws from multifarious disciplines to explain natural processes, and phenomena that led to human evolution.
Archeology
Archaeologists study ancient civilizations, people, and cultures Archaeology is a comparative discipline that assumes certain spatio-temporal continuities, while recognizing the fact that every society is the product of its own particular history and there is likely to commonalities and dissimilarities within a society. Archaeology has been a significant contributor to the understanding of human evolution, it has also contributed to the understanding of how ancient human civilizations have contributed the cultural growth of humans and led to development of modern civilizations. However, Archaeology without the support of biological sciences and physical anthropology cannot explain all the facets of human evolution.
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology primarily delves into the study of human speech and language. A significant amount of human culture and origin is linked to how we communicated with each other. Linguistic anthropology is the comparative account of how language is influenced and in turn affects social life. Language has played a significant role in human history, it has led to wars, it has changed societies and in the modern day we see language as a unifying factor. One of the predominant questions in linguistic anthropology continues to be how, the language we speak predisposes us to perceive the environment in a certain way. Language, unless written in text does not shed much light on the aspect of human evolution. Linguistic anthropology is more suited to address questions about the development of human culture. This subfield of anthropology is crucial to understand the biocultural evolution (Lewis et al., 2012) but it cannot explain the course of human evolution in its entirety.
Cultural anthropology
Culture is a set of learned behaviours and knowledge that belong to a certain group of people. Culture is not biologically inherited and therefore must be passed through learning from one generation to the next. Sociocultural anthropologists try to find the similarities and differences within and between societies using race, gender, nationality, sexuality as contexts. Socio-cultural anthropology is often introspective and tries to focus on participant observation on how cultural knowledge applies to daily tasks and philosophical questions. Cultural anthropology relies on data from remnants of ancient culture to make projections about the origin of modern human culture. Cultural anthropology by itself cannot explain the entire course of human evolution from the great apes and early hominins and needs to be complemented by certain aspects of physical anthropology.
Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection
Contrary to popular belief, Darwin did not “invent” evolution, his theories of natural selection have contributed to better understanding of the mechanisms of evolutionary forces. Darwin posited that natural selection exerts significant pressure on extant species, that favor certain adaptive traits over others. Natural selection acting on a small population will result in some individuals with better adaptive traits to outcompete and survive more than individuals of the same species without those traits (Lewis et al., 2012). In contrast, Lamarckian theory of evolution suggested that individuals acquire inheritable physical traits during their lifetime, which are then passed on to the next generation.
Archeological records discovered at Neander valley in Germany and various other places have led to the realization that humans were not created by god but evolved from other related species. The coevolution of Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis from the common ancestor Homo erectus shows that although the two sub-species co-existed during the same epoch, one had certain advantages over the other, which led to the eventual extinction of Neanderthal man (Lectures).
conclusion
Based on the information gathered and questions answered, the physical anthropology is best-suited to explain the concept of human evolution using Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection.
Biological anthropology has three major categories
Human biology: human biological diversity, genetics, anthropometry
Primatology: Non-human primate biology, evolution, behaviour and ecology
Paleoanthropology: human origin and human evolution
Primatology helps us compare how modern humans diverged from their cousins due to change in selection pressures. Primatology has helped us better understand the intricacies of social behaviour, parental investment, reproductive behaviour, infant care and non-verbal communication. Modern anthropology represents a small part of the vast continuum of human existence(Lewis et al., 2012). Biological anthropology helps link modern humans with early hominins. Physical anthropologists also employ anthropometry to study the skeletal remains of early humans and hominins, which helps them better understand the type of evolutionary forces that may have affected our early ancestors. Anthropometry allows us to understand the human form and its adaptive significance. Physical anthropologists also employ genetics to understand certain aspects of human evolution. Molecular anthropologists use modern techniques to understand the relationships between humans and other species. Therefore Biological/Physical Anthropology is well-equipped to explain human evolution.
Works Cited
Write prof last name. 2017. ANTH160D2: Origins of Human Diversity. ppt.
Lewis, B., Jurmain, R., & Kilgore, L. (2012). Understanding Humans: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology. Cengage Learning.
