History of the Field
Physical anthropology, the original name of the discipline, was initially spurred by interest in human variation during the period of exploration and the chance discovery of fossils. It began to develop as a separate discipline in Europe in the 1800s and through the campaigning of Ales Hrlicka, it was finally recognized as a separate field in 1928 with the founding of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Just as the hallmark of anthropology in the broad sense is its holistic perspective, physical anthropology is a synthesis of many fields. As physical anthropologists study physiology, anatomy, genetics, behavior, environment, adaptation, and evolution, they do so stressing the interrelationship among these spheres.

In regard to the name, the development of genetics and increasing focus on biologically oriented topics in the last decades have led to a preference by some for the term "biological" anthropology as a replacement for the older "physical" anthropology. Both terms are currently in use, though the former is becoming more popular.

Today, biological/physical anthropologists ask questions about a broad range of questions. Among them: How and why do humans vary biologically, both individually and by group? What are the patterns of biological variation, adaptation, life history and development? What is the source and evolutionary history of these differences at the molecular level? What is the interplay between ecology, genetics, and behavior, as well as structure and function among our closest relatives, the other primates? What can we learn from the fossil record about the evolutionary history of our closest relatives as well as ourselves? What can we learn about our recent history and the spread of populations, through the analysis of genetics, forensics and cultural remains?

To give you a sense of the breadth of this research, the following is a sample from a recent edition (August 2004) of The American Journal of Physical Anthropology:

Reconstructing relationships among mortality, status, and gender at the Medieval Gilbertine Priory of St. Andrew, Fishergate, York.

Functional anatomy of the olecranon process in hominoids and plio-pleistocene hominins.

Circadian rhythms in diet and habitat use in red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) and white-fronted brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus albifrons).

Genetic signatures of pre-expansion bottleneck in the Choctaw population of Oklahoma.

Atelinae phylogenetic relationships: The trichotomy revived?

Relationship of strain magnitude to morphological variation in the primate skull.

Continuity or colonization in Anglo-Saxon England? Isotope evidence for mobility, subsistence practice, and status at West Heslerton.

Physical growth and nutritional status of Tsimane' Amerindian children of lowland Bolivia.