Biological anthropology

About: Biological anthropology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1126 publications have been published within this topic receiving 12757 citations. The topic is also known as: biological anthropology & somatology.

Physical anthropology in 1918 and the founding of the U.S. journal.

Abstract: In 1918, the first issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology was prepared and distributed by Ales Hrdlicka, the Curator of Physical Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution. This was a singular act, both in the general and specific sense. It was the first journal of physical anthropology published in the United States, and it was a sole effort by Hrdlicka, who was committed to promoting and recognizing physical anthropology as a new science in America. On this 100th anniversary of the founding of the journal, Hrdlicka's efforts were successful: physical/biological anthropology is a strong and timely discipline that represents a major area of scientific research today.

Computer-Assisted Anthropology

Abstract: Anthropology is the study of humans and human behavior (and also other primates). Various aspects of human life, including the objects made by humans (archeology), the biological aspects of humans (biological anthropology), how people in different parts of the world interact with each other and how their beliefs vary (sociocultural anthropology), and how humans communicate in different parts of the world (linguistic anthropology), are studied as a part of anthropology. This research is utilized in solving real-world problems in numerous fields, including healthcare, education, business, politics, the environment, interpreting history, etc. There has been a notable increase in the use of computers and related technologies for carrying out the required analysis in each of the four subfields of anthropology. Various data analytics and data visualization tools are used along with digital instruments. Many image-processing techniques along with computer graphics are employed in each of the four subfields. As currently used, the term digital anthropology overlaps with other terms such as virtual anthropology and cyber anthropology. Virtual anthropology involves the study of 3D digital models of anatomical structures of humans and nonhuman primates, as well as fossil specimens. Reconstruction of the fossils and the skeletons virtually is also extensively used. Virtual anthropology has a number of advantages, including the ability to study internal structures of the skeleton noninvasively and the availability of virtual objects due to the permanence of the data and the potential for data sharing. The use of digital imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) or optical surface scanning, has contributed to numerous medical-related domains in archeology. As a part of sociocultural anthropology, people can be clustered based on their actions in social networks, online communities, and online games. This is a part of digital ethnography, which involves analyzing people on online social platforms, taking into consideration the conflicts of people within their communities and outside their communities and linguistic features and memetic dialects of people with respect to their cultures and geographic locations. Based on the huge amount of data which can be retrieved from online sites and taking into account the activities of different people in different situations online, conclusions can be drawn about the behavior of people. The chapter starts with an introduction to anthropology, followed by a description of each of the subfields. Then the computing technologies being employed in each of the fields of anthropology are described. Finally, digital ethnography and virtual anthropology are discussed.