Anthropology is the study of the origin and development of human

societies and cultures. Culture is the learned behavior of people,

including their languages, belief systems, social structures,
institutions, and material goods. Anthropologists study
the characteristics of past and present human communities through a
variety of techniques. In doing so, they investigate and describe how
different peoples of our world lived throughout history.

Anthropologists aim to study and present their human subjects in a

clear and unbiased way. They attempt to achieve this by observing
subjects in their local environment. Anthropologists then describe
interactions and customs, a process known as ethnography. By
participating in the everyday life of their subjects, anthropologists can
better understand and explain the purpose of local institutions, culture,
and practices. This process is known as participant-observation.

As anthropologists study societies and cultures different from their

own, they must evaluate their interpretations to make sure they aren’t
biased. This bias is known as ethnocentrism, or the habit of viewing all
groups as inferior to another, usually their own, cultural group.

Taken as a whole, these steps enable anthropologists to describe

people through the people's own terms.

Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Anthropology’s diverse topics of study are generally categorized in
four subdisciplines. A subdiscipline is a specialized field of study
within a broader subject or discipline. Anthropologists specialize in
cultural or social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological or
physical anthropology, and archaeology. While subdisciplines can
overlap and are not always seen by scholars as distinct, each tends to
use different techniques and methods.

Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology, also known as social anthropology, is the study
of the learned behavior of groups of people in specific environments.
Cultural anthropologists base their work in ethnography, a research
method that uses field work and participant-observation to study
individual cultures and customs.

Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey is a National Geographic Fellow in

anthropology. As a doctoral student, she documented rare and nearly
lost traditions of the palu, Micronesian navigators who don’t use maps
or instruments. Among the traditions she studied were the chants and
practices of the Satawalese, a tiny cultural group native to a single
coral atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Cultural anthropologists who analyze and compare different cultures

are known as ethnologists. Ethnologists may observe how specific
customs develop differently in different cultures and interpret why
these differences exist.

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis is

an ethnobotanist. He spent more than three years in Latin America,
collecting and studying plants that different indigenous groups use in
their daily lives. His work compares how these groups understand and
use plants as food, medicine, and in religious ceremonies.

Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology is the study of how language influences social
life. Linguistic anthropologists say language provides people with the
intellectual tools for thinking and acting in the world. Linguistic
anthropologists focus on how language shapes societies and their
social networks, cultural beliefs, and understanding of themselves and
their environments.

To understand how people use language for social and cultural

purposes, linguistic anthropologists closely document what people say
as they engage in daily social activities. This documentation relies on
participant-observation and other methods, including audiovisual
recording and interviews with participants.

Lera Boroditsky, a cognitive scientist, studies forms of communication

among the Pormpuraaw, an Aboriginal community in Australia.
Boroditsky found that almost all daily activities and conversations were
placed within the context of cardinal directions. For example, when
greeting someone in Pormpuraaw, one asks, “Where are you going?”
A response may be: “A long way to the south-southwest.” A person
might warn another, “There is a snake near your northwest foot.” This
language enables the Pormpuraaw to locate and navigate themselves
in landscapes with extreme precision, but makes communication
nearly impossible for those without an absolute knowledge of cardinal
directions.

Linguistic anthropologists may document native languages that are in

danger of extinction. The Enduring Voices Project at National
Geographic aimed to prevent language extinction by embarking on
expeditions that create textual, visual, and auditory records of
threatened languages. The project also assisted indigenous
communities in their efforts to revitalize and maintain their languages.
Enduring Voices has documented the Chipaya language of Bolivia,
the Yshyr Chamacoco language of Paraguay, and the Matugar Panau
language of Papua New Guinea, among many others.

Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is the
study of the evolution of human beings and their living
and fossil relatives. Biological anthropology places human evolution
within the context of human culture and behavior. This means
biological anthropologists look at how physical developments, such as
changes in our skeletal or genetic makeup, are interconnected with
social and cultural behaviors throughout history.

To understand how humans evolved from earlier life forms, some

biological anthropologists study primates, such as monkeys and apes.
Primates are considered our closest living relatives. Analyzing the
similarities and differences between human beings and the “great
apes” helps biological anthropologists understand human evolution.

Jane Goodall, a primatologist, has studied wild chimpanzees (Pan

troglodytes) in Tanzania for more than 40 years. By living with these
primates for extended periods of time, Goodall discovered a number
of similarities between humans and chimpanzees.

One of the most notable of Goodall’s discoveries was that

chimpanzees use basic tools, such as sticks. Toolmaking is
considered a key juncture in human evolution. Biological
anthropologists link the evolution of the human hand, with a longer
thumb and stronger gripping muscles, to our ancient ancestors’ focus
on toolmaking.

Other biological anthropologists examine the skeletal remains of our

human ancestors to see how we have adapted to different physical
environments and social structures over time. This specialty is known
as human paleontology, or paleoanthropology.

Zeresenay Alemseged, a National Geographic Explorer,

examines hominid fossils found at the Busidima-Dikika anthropological
site in Ethiopia. Alemseged’s work aims to prove that a wide diversity
of early hominid species existed three million to four million years ago.
Paleoanthropologists study why some hominid species were able to
survive for thousands of years, while others were not.

Biological anthropology may focus on how the biological

characteristics of living people are related to their social or cultural
practices. The Ju/’hoansi, a foraging society of Namibia, for example,
have developed unique physical characteristics in response to cold
weather and a lack of high-calorie foods. A thick layer of fat
protects vital organs of the chest and abdomen, and veins shrink at
night. This reduces the Ju/’hoansi’s heat loss and keeps their core
body temperature at normal levels.

Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of the human past using material remains.
These remains can be any objects that people created, modified, or
used. Archaeologists carefully uncover and examine these objects in
order to interpret the experiences and activities of peoples
and civilizations throughout history.
Archaeologists often focus their work on a specific period of history.
Archaeologists may study prehistoric cultures—cultures that existed
before the invention of writing. These studies are important because
reconstructing a prehistoric culture’s way of life can only be done
through interpreting the artifacts they left behind. For example, macaw
eggshells, skeletal remains, and ceramic imagery recovered at
archaeological sites in the United States Southwest suggest the
important role macaws played as exotic trade items and objects of
worship for prehistoric peoples in that area.

Other archaeologists may focus their studies on a specific culture

or aspect of cultural life. Constanza Ceruti, a National Geographic
Emerging Explorer, is a high-altitude archaeologist specializing in
artifacts and features of the Incan Empire. Along with archaeological
evidence, Ceruti analyzes historical sources and traditional Andean
beliefs. These data help her reconstruct what ancient sites looked like,
the symbolic meaning behind each artifact, and how ceremonies took
place.

History of Anthropology
Throughout history, the study of anthropology has reflected our
evolving relationships with other people and cultures. These
relationships are deeply connected to political, economic, and social
forces present at different points in history.

The study of history was an important aspect of ancient Greek and

Roman cultures, which focused on using reason and inquiry to
understand and create just societies. Herodotus, a Greek historian,
traveled through regions as far-flung as present-day Libya, Ukraine,
Egypt, and Syria during the fifth century B.C.E. Herodotus traveled to
these places to understand the origins of conflict between Greeks and
Persians. Along with historical accounts, Herodotus described the
customs and social structures of the peoples he visited. These
detailed observations are considered one of the world’s first exercises
in ethnography.
The establishment of exchange routes was also an important
development in expanding an interest in societies and cultures. Zhang
Qian was a diplomat who negotiated trade agreements and treaties
between China and communities throughout Central Asia, for
instance. Zhang’s diplomacy and interest in Central Asia helped spur
the development of the Silk Road, one of history’s greatest networks
for trade, communication, and exchange. The Silk Road provided a
vital link between Asia, East Africa, and Eastern Europe for thousands
of years.

Medieval scholars and explorers, who traveled the world to develop

new trading partnerships, continued to keep accounts of cultures they
encountered. Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, wrote the first
detailed descriptions of Central Asia and China, where he traveled for
24 years. Polo’s writings greatly elaborated Europe’s early
understandings of Asia, its peoples, and practices.

Ibn Battuta traveled much more extensively than Marco Polo. Battuta
was a Moroccan scholar who regularly traveled throughout North
Africa and the Middle East. His expeditions, as far east as India and
China, and as far south as Kenya, are recorded in his memoir,
the Rihla.

Many scholars argue that modern anthropology developed during

the Age of Enlightenment, a cultural movement of 18th century Europe
that focused on the power of reason to advance society and
knowledge. Enlightenment scholars aimed to understand human
behavior and society as phenomena that followed defined principles.
This work was strongly influenced by the work of natural historians,
such as Georges Buffon. Buffon studied humanity as
a zoological species—a community of Homo sapiens was just one
part of the flora and fauna of an area.

Europeans applied the principles of natural history to document the

inhabitants of newly colonized territories and other indigenous cultures
they came in contact with. Colonial scholars studied these cultures as
“human primitives,” inferior to the advanced societies of Europe.
These studies justified the colonial agenda by describing foreign
territories and peoples as needing European reason and control.
Today, we recognize these studies as racist.

Colonial thought deeply affected the work of 19th century

anthropologists. They followed two main theories in their
studies: evolutionism and diffusionism. Evolutionists argued that all
societies develop in a predictable, universal sequence.
Anthropologists who believed in evolutionism placed cultures within
this sequence. They placed non-Eurocentric colonies into the
“savagery” stage and only considered European powers to be in the
“civilizations” stage. Evolutionists believed that all societies would
reach the civilization stage when they adopted the traits of these
powers. Conversely, they studied “savage” societies as a means of
understanding the primitive origins of European civilizations.

Diffusionists believed all societies stemmed from a set of “culture

circles” that spread, or diffused, their practices throughout the world.
By analyzing and comparing the cultural traits of a society,
diffusionists could determine from which culture circle that society
derived. W.J. Perry, a British anthropologist, believed all aspects of
world cultures—agriculture, domesticated animals, pottery, civilization
itself—developed from a single culture circle: Egypt.

Diffusionists and evolutionists both argued that all cultures could be

compared to one another. They also believed certain cultures (mostly
their own) were superior to others.

These theories were sharply criticized by 20th-century anthropologists

who strived to understand particular cultures in those cultures’ own
terms, not in comparison to European traditions. The theory of cultural
relativism, supported by pioneering German-American
anthropologist Franz Boas, argued that one could only understand a
person’s beliefs and behaviors in the context of his or her own culture.

To put societies in cultural context, anthropologists began to live in

these societies for long periods of time. They used the tools of
participant-observation and ethnography to understand and describe
the social and cultural life of a group more fully. Turning away from
comparing cultures and finding universal laws about human behavior,
modern anthropologists describe particular cultures or societies at a
given place and time.

Other anthropologists began to criticize the discipline’s focus on

cultures from the developing world. These anthropologists turned to
analyzing the practices of everyday life in the developed world. As a
result, ethnographic work has been conducted on a wider variety of
human societies, from university hierarchies to high school sports
teams to residents of retirement homes.

Anthropology Today
New technologies and emerging fields of study
enable contemporary anthropologists to uncover and analyze more
complex information about peoples and cultures. Archaeologists and
biological anthropologists use CT scanners, which combine a series
of X-ray views taken from different angles, to produce cross-
sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside human remains.

Zahi Hawass, a former National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence,

has used CT scans on ancient Egyptian mummies to learn more about
patterns of disease, health, and mortality in ancient Egypt. These
scans revealed one mummy as an obese, 50-year-old woman who
suffered from tooth decay. Hawass and his team were able to identify
this mummy as Queen Hatshepsut, a major figure in Egyptian history,
after finding one of her missing teeth in a ritual box inscribed with her
name.

The field of genetics uses elements of anthropology and biology.

Genetics is the study of how characteristics are passed down from
one generation to the next. Geneticists study DNA, a chemical in
every living cell of every organism. DNA studies suggest all human
beings descend from a group of ancestors, some of whom began
to migrate out of Central Africa about 60,000 years ago.
Anthropologists also apply their skills and tools to understand how
humans create new social connections and cultural identities. Michael
Wesch, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, is studying how
new media platforms and digital technologies, such as Facebook and
YouTube, are changing how people communicate and relate to one
another. As a “digital ethnographer,” Wesch’s findings about our
relationships to new media are often presented as videos or
interactive web experiences that incorporate hundreds of participant-
observers. Wesch is one of many anthropologists expanding how we
understand and navigate our digital environment and our approach to
anthropological research.