Physical or biological anthropology deals with the evolution of humans, their variability, and adaptations to environmental stresses. Forensic anthropologists use the study of skeletal biology to assist in the identification and analysis of more recently deceased individuals.

Via expert knowledge of the human skeleton, fingerprints, blood genetics, DNA sequencing, and archaeological methods, physical anthropologists provide invaluable assistance in the identification of victims and perpetrators of crimes and casualties of accidents and wars.

Linguistic anthropology studies the nature of human languages in the context of those cultures that developed them. Scholars in the field seek to understand the social and cultural foundations of language itself, while exploring how social and cultural formations are grounded in linguistic practices.

Anthropology and the Scientific Method. What is “science”? What is the Scientific Method? – observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusions. How is a theory different from a hypothesis?

“Theories are analytical tools for understanding, explaining, and making predictions about a given subject matter”. Not all of the theories reviewed are in use any more. Social evolutionism was abandoned early on in cultural anthropology.

The initial step in the scientific method is the formation of a hypothesis. A body of knowledge gained through observation and experimentation is calledscience. The approaches biological anthropologists take to study humanity may vary, but they are always interpreted within an evolutionary framework.