What is Anthropology

Anthropology, in sweet and simple words, means the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time. Anthropology is the offspring of natural sciences and humanities. It deals with answering questions like, "who are homo sapiens?", "who was homo erectus?", "Who were the ancestors of homo sapiens?", "how do we behave?", etc. Interesting questions! But we were here looking for an answer to the question "What is anthropology?" So let's get to it!

Like I have already said (in case you didn't notice it then you need to concentrate a little better), anthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time. There are 4 branches of anthropology, namely, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archeological anthropology and anthropological linguistics. Understanding these off-shoots will help us "dig up" some information on anthropology.

Branch 1: Biological Anthropology- Biological anthropology is also known as physical anthropology. As the name may have given away, it means the study of human evolution. Darwin's theory of natural selection and the modern synthesis have given birth to this form of anthropology. Richard Leakey, David Pilbeam, Alan C.Walker and Sherwood Washburn are a few out of many of the renowned physical anthropologists. Biological Anthropology has its own set of divisions; primatology, biomedical anthropology, paleoanthropology, human behavioral ecology, neuroanthropology and osteology.

Branch 2: Cultural Anthropology- Again as the name suggests, cultural anthropology is a study of human culture through time. Human culture has been constantly changing and evolving. It's a marvelous thing to observe and study. Social anthropology rose parallel to cultural anthropology. It studies the human behavior from the social point of view.

Branch 3: Archeology- Everyone has most probably heard the term "archeology" and related it to "digging up stuff"! This is kind of true. Archeology is the science that studies human history from the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data. It was through archeology that the remains of Mohenjo daro in Pakistan, Alexandria in Europe, etc were excavated and the histories of such civilizations was studied.

Branch 4: Natural Linguistics- As everyone knows, linguistics means study of languages. As such, it is obvious that natural linguistics, as a branch of anthropology, is the study of the timeline of human language formation and usage. Earlier, it used to be called philology. Linguistics also studies the impact of a language on a certain culture.

Anthropology is like the mirror that shows us what we were and what we have evolved to. Now it is up to us how we use its outputs for our own benefits, create a future for ourselves and our race full of opportunities and joy. It is a fairly difficult subject that one cannot make a mistake in understanding. If you think you have it in you to take it up as a career choice, put your heart, soul and brain into it!