Archaeology

Archaeologists study the material remains (the buildings, tools, pottery, and other artifacts) of societies in order to understand cultures and to infer the processes of cultural change. Anthropological archaeologists are usually, but not exclusively, concerned with the prehistoric cultures (those without written records) of our early ancestors, people who existed before the emergence of agriculture, the domestication of animals, and the use of metals.

From fragmentary remains, archaeologists attempt to determine:

• The social organization of the culture.
• What type of contact it had with other groups in the area
• The conditions of the physical environment; the animal and plant resources;
  and whether the culture had domesticated plants and animals.
• The technology, the religion, population size, and the general health of the people.
• The causes for cultural change and/or collapse.

Biological Anthropology

Biological anthropology, also called physical anthropology, is the subfield of anthropology that focuses on the biological aspect of humans, especially how it relates to cultural practices, evolution, and the environment. The subfield itself is divided into three major branches which often overlap: paleoanthropology (the study of fossil humans and near relatives); primatology (the study of primates -- humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians); and the study of modern human variation and adaptation.

One area of biological anthropology -- forensic anthropology -- specializes in the identification of modern human skeletal remains. Age, sex, stature, and group (racial) affinity can be estimated from skeletal measurements and morphology. Beyond identification, forensic anthropologists also work with law enforcement officials to help determine cause and manner of death; time interval since death; and to characterize skeletal trauma and abnormalities.

Cultural Anthropology

Cultural anthropologists seek to understand different groups and societies by examining their underlying culture from a holistic perspective. By holistic perspective, we mean the broadest possible context through which the complexities, interconnections, and interdependencies of culture can be comprehended.

Culture can be defined as the entire collection of a group or society's values, beliefs, traditions, perceptions; it encompasses stated as well as unconscious principles by which groups define their lives and the world around them. Every aspect of a group or society -- from family structure, social control, political and economic structures, to religious, artistic, and linguistic principles, even the way we dress and the food we eat -- is part of culture.

There are two major components to cultural anthropology: ethnography and ethnology.

• Ethnography is the study or description of individual cultures. The ethnographer goes into the field to live with and learn about the culture of a society or group. The ethnographer follows the fundamental premise of fieldwork: participant-observation -- the idea that culture cannot be understood by observation alone, but by actively participating in the culture.
• Ethnology is the comparative study of different cultures. It is concerned with matters of theory regarding the relationship between human behavior and culture and the factors responsible for observable similarities and differences between cultures.

Linguistics

Linguistic anthropology specializes in the study of language and how it relates to the culture and lifestyle of its speakers. Linguistic anthropologists not only describe and record languages that have never been put in written form, but explore theoretical issues, such as how language affects thought and perception; the historical relatedness of different cultural groups in divergent geographic areas; and the evolution of language in humans.

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