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.

Understanding Humans: Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology

Abstract: UNDERSTANDING HUMANS: INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY shows students how anthropologists and archaeologists go about their work as they study human evolution, living nonhuman primates, human adaptation and variation, the origin and dispersal of modern humans, food production, the first civilizations of the Old and New Worlds, and so much more. Using a biocultural approach, the text balances the presentation of physical anthropology with archaeology and concludes with a new chapter that ties together the material on human biological and cultural adaptation by focusing on lessons learned from our species evolution such as the impact of humans on the environment. Students will also benefit from the new chapter opening learning objectives, "At a Glance" sections that summarize key concepts, and end-of-chapter "Critical Thinking Questions" that help students better understand the material and study more effectively for exams.

What do bones tell us? The study of human skeletons from the perspective of forensic anthropology.

Abstract: Human remains are present in a number of contexts. Some of these are archaeological burial sites, which can comprise individual or mass graves burials. Human remains are usually found buried (or cremated), but they can also be found in museums and in universities, as part of their anatomical collections. Human remains can be found in churches as relics, in ossuaries, and as part of objects. Hence human remains refer to not just a complete skeleton, but also apart of a bone or tooth, hair and mummified remains. In more recent forensic, police or medico-legal cases, human skeletal remains can be found in a number of contexts, such as fire scenes, natural disasters, clandestine graves, or on the surface in open areas (e.g. a woodland). One aspect ofphysical anthropology is that which studies human skeletal remains in order to reconstruct the past, understand human variation, and provide information about the deceased individuals, such as their age at death, sex, ancestry, stature, pathological conditions or traumatic injuries; the remains from medico-legal or police cases fall under the branch offorensic anthropology.