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The subfield of anthropology that deals with human and nonhuman primate evolution, the biological bases of human behavior, and human biological variability and its significance. Physical anthropology is a branch of anthropology that investigates the…

The scientific study of past material culture. The initial objective of archeology (often spelled archaeology) is to construct cultural chronologies that order past material culture into meaningful temporal segments. The intermediate objective is to…

The diversity of biological and genetic differences observed in the human population. Anthropologists study human biology to better understand the extent of human biological variability, to explain the mechanisms that create and pattern this…

The apes are a branch of Old World primates, distinguished from monkeys by their mode of locomotion (arm swinging, rather than quadrupedal walking). It has long been known that humans are more closely related to apes than to other primates. However,…

The behavior of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) [Fig. 1] is fascinating because of its similarity to human behavior. These behavioral similarities are due in part to the close evolutionary relationship between chimpanzees and humans. Behavioral…

A species of fossil human from the Pleistocene representing a specialized side branch in human evolution in Africa and Eurasia. Homo erectus was a common, widespread, and long-surviving ancestor of modern humans (H. sapiens). Fossil remains of this…

A group of late archaic humans (Homo neanderthalensis) from Europe, southwest Asia, and central Asia that immediately preceded the first modern humans in those regions. The closest evolutionary relatives of modern humans are the Neandertals (also…

A much sought after challenge in anthropology is to understand better the evolution of the human brain and, in particular, to decode the nature of changes that provided for our unique form of language. The term language can be used quite broadly; it…

Before Christopher Columbus's famous voyage in 1492 and the beginning of modern transoceanic journeys, humans had established themselves on all habitable continents. This initial settlement of the continents by Homo sapiens originated approximately…

The interdisciplinary study that attempts to determine how much astronomy prehistoric people knew and how it influenced their lives. It involves multiple disciplines: astronomy to chart the heavens, archeology to probe the cultural context,…