Talk:Biological anthropology

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"Renowned Paleoanthropologists"?

I have stumbled across this page while trying to find useful things about Blumenbach's kind of anthropology. I can understand that biological anthropology redirects to physical anthropology, but why is there a list of "Renowned Paleoanthropologists" on this page? Could someone explain please? --KF 11:04, 12 Nov 2003 (UTC)

The list serves mostly to provide links. Paleoanthropology is one branch of physical anthropology. All Wikipeida articles are works in progress -- hopefully, somebody will one day begin a list of notable primatologists, population geneticists, and others who occupy sub-fields of physical anthropology, Slrubenstein — Preceding undated comment added 20:49, 12 November 2003‎

Thank you! --KF 23:28, 12 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Now that there's a page for paleoanthropology and -ists, why keep *all* of them here? Were they all important to physical anthropology as a whole? --Joy [shallot] 20:06, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Franz Boas

Isn't it Boas that has been discredited?! Didn't he interpret the measurements on skulls falsely on purpose? http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/current/boasskull.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.210.90.180 (talk) 18:57, 26 April 2005 (UTC)

No. Whoever told you this is B.S.ing you. No contemporary of his ever suggested -- and no one has ever found any evidence to suggest, that Boas was deliberatly deceptive. Moreover, his findings have been confirmed by recent scientists. In fact, the most recent research on this data uses more advanced statistical methods than what were available to Boas, and have discovered that the evidence for Boas's findings is even stronger than what Boas claimed in his articles. Sparks and Jantz (mentioned in Wade's article) were no doubt sincere in their belief that they proved Boas wrong, but shortly after they published their article, it became clear to everyone that they misread or at least misunderstood Boas's argument; that the methods they were using were inappropriate; that a correct use of statistical analysis supports Boas's research. As to Pinker's claim that Benedict, Mead, and Montegue were blank-slate antibiology coscial constructionists, well, he is just ignorant. They certainly believed that many human beliefs and practices were socially constructed, but none of them believed that the mind was a blank-slate, and all of them believed that biology is important. The difference between Pinker and anthropologists is NOT that Pinker "believes in" biology and anthropologists do not. The difference is that Pinker believes that human biology limits human creativity and variety, while anthropologists believe that human biology makes human creativity and variety possible. The fact is, the views of anthropologists are supported by scientific research, and Pinker's views are not. Slrubenstein | Talk — Preceding undated comment added 21:31, 26 April 2005‎

No. Read Boas and make up your own mind.Levalley (talk) 20:00, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

The difference is that Pinker believes that human biology limits human creativity and variety, while anthropologists believe that human biology makes human creativity and variety possible. The fact is, the views of anthropologists are supported by scientific research, and Pinker's views are not. False dichotomy much? Both sides can be right, and likely are: Biology makes creativity and variety possible, but it also puts limits on it. Just think of human height: Genes put a limit on height. Some people grow taller with the same form of nutrition than others do. Although I do not agree with everything Pinker says (to put it mildly – I consider Chomsky's language acquisition device ideas pure BS and resent the paradigm he has established, changing mainstream linguistics especially in the US from an empirical-based science into a largely dogmatic, esoteric field, using pseudo-mathematical formulas to pretend exactness and rigorousness, more religion than science), it would be silly to deny this. Of course, genes are not the only influence, they do not absolutely determine people. And of course, they also make some people's taller height possible in the first place. It's just a matter of perspective. But perhaps I'm misunderstanding the dispute. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 21:33, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Franz Boas was definitely a scientific fraudster, people just don't word it that way, they're afraid to be seen as "racists", then. So they are careful with the wording. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/08/science/a-new-look-at-old-data-may-discredit-a-theory-on-race.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm 105.4.4.214 (talk) 22:57, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

Population genetics is a branch of physical anthropology?

Is there a branch of physical anthropology called populaton genetics that is distinct from the subject in population genetics and the link is misguided, or is the inclusion of population genetics as a branch of physical anthropology a bit of a reach? Pete.Hurd 04:50, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Population genetics is most definitely one of the major sub-fields physical anthropologists specialize in. I have Nelson and Germaine's 8th edition textbook for intro to physical anthropology. This is not a good document for describing what physical anthropologists actually do, but it is a good document for describing what physical anthropologists consider to be the fundamentals of their field for undergraduate teaching: the first chapter of course is the introduction, and when introducing physical anthropology it highlights (actually, bolds) the main elements: paleoanthropology (the study of human evolution), anthropometry (measuring phenotypic variation among current populations), genetics, primatology, and osteology (including paleopathology and linked to forensic anthropology). I'd say that "anthropometry" and "genetics" understood within a Darwinian/Mendelian model together are important elements of population genetics.

The actual chapters of the book are (2) the development of evolutionary theory, (3)the Biological Basis for Live, (4) Heredity and Evolution, (5) an overview of living primates, (6) fundamentals of primate behavior, (7) models for human evolution, (8) processes macroevolution: mammalian/primate evolutionary history, (9) paleoanthropology: reconstructing early hominid behavior and ecology, (10) hominid origins, (11) H. erectus and contemporaries, (12) Neandertales and other archaic H. sapiens (13) H. sapiens sapiens, (14) microevolution in Modern Human Populations, (15) Human variation and adaptation, (16) conclusion.

I'd say that chapters 4, 14, and 15 cover most of what is called population genetics. Chapter 14 has a section called "population genetics." As I said, this book is but one piece of evidence as to how physical anthropologists present themselves to undergraduate students. I think it would be more effective to look at the AAA's guide to departments and see how physical anthropologists identify their specializations, or see how journal articles are distributed among different journals and keywords, but I do not know if anyone has done that research and I don't have the resources or time to do it myself (plus it would violate NOR). Slrubenstein | Talk 15:09, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Population genetics is a large field and calling it a branch of biological anthropology is very misleading, it is akin to calling mathematics a branch of physics--Goterpaws (talk) 15:53, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Human Biology

Should the term Human Biology be included in the entry? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.15.183.163 (talk) 21:34, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes, absolutely.Levalley (talk) 20:00, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

additional definition

Here is a definition of Biol. Anth. from the University of Toronto website in support of the population genetics discussion.

"Physical or Biological Anthropology is the study of humans and non-human primates in their biological dimension. It examines the biological and social factors that have affected the evolution of humans and other primates, and that generate, maintain or change contemporary genetic and physiological variation. Biological anthropologists may focus their research on human genetics, the behaviour of non-human primates, primate palaeontology, medical Anthropology, forensics or evidence for ancient disease and nutrition." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.15.183.163 (talk) 21:34, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

help!

Anyone who has this page on their watchlist, can you go to Virago? A who is putting forward notions of racial and identifying them with a notion of gender-difference, and I are in a conflict. Fundamentally, I believe he is a racist' his claims about race contradict everything I have read by physical and cultural anthropologists and as far as I can tell, his claims about gender at best seriously distort the literature.

You can see the difference here [1]

On the talk page, start here [2], and then just read the whole debate.

Comments from others needed. Thanks, Slrubenstein | Talk 23:37, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Biological Anthropology

I believe that this page should be moved to the title "Biological Anthropology" due to the greater use of the term in the field. The use of "biological" is a more accurate discripter, a it is the study of human biology using an evolutionary framework, with an emphasis on the interaction between biology and culture. I would like to know if anyone is against this. Digsdirt 04:54, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

No objection. Slrubenstein | Talk 08:43, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Title capitalization

The "a" in "anthropology" in the title shouldn't be capitalized. Can someone move the article to "Biological anthropology"? Thanks. 24.11.177.133 06:43, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

request for comments

Would people who regularly watch this page please consider commenting here [3]? Thanks, Slrubenstein | Talk 13:25, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

There's me. I am of several minds about this article. First, it may remain stub-like because bio-anthropology is such a large field. However, like the main article on anthropology, it seems it deserve some fleshing-out, to wit, it should give an account of the major branches of biological anthropology commonly seen in any introductory textbook book (history of the field, taxonomic work, molecular genetics, population genetics, primatology, paleontological methods, the difference between paleontology and archaeology, tool traditions, early hominids, importance of bipedality, increase in brain size, early members of the genus Homo, controversies, Out of Africa vs. Mosaic hypothesis, major accomplishments in the field. The list of important bio-anthropologists is a start, but should be worked on. The subspecialties of each should be mentioned. Probably should put in alphabetical order. Anyway, lots of work needed there - I can think of about ten or twelve people just off the top of my head that aren't there, don't know if they have Wiki articles or not.Levalley (talk) 20:04, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

request for comments

On race and intelligence, please [4] Slrubenstein | Talk 13:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Merging of stub sections

Merging various orphaned and unreferenced stubs into this article is undertaken for the purpose of completeness and easy review. The material often mentions outdated theories and it is not intended to assert that these are valid - if necessary a "history" article can be split off. It is true that (above) the article "should give an account of the major branches of biological anthropology commonly seen in any introductory textbook book (history of the field, taxonomic work, molecular genetics, population genetics, primatology, paleontolog(y)...)". As a beginning historical material can be assembled and brief notes added. Redheylin (talk) 01:39, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Human evolution

This article needs attention from knowledgeable editors.·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 23:04, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Human Geography

Why has an entire section on Racial cartography (by human geographers) been added to an article on biological anthropology? Should this not be deleted?Schrauwers (talk) 00:39, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I completely agree, "racial cartography" is not a subfield of biological anthro, and the section in my opinion misleads people into thinking that the biological anthropology is a pseudoscience closely related to phrenology.76.87.113.203 (talk) 00:35, 13 May 2013 (UTC) Ian

Why is Josef Mengele on here

? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 06:37, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Article needs attention

This whole article is relatively misleading and poorly written. For example, in the introduction, the article claims that biological anthropology plays a role in paleoanthropology; while later on paleoanthropology is claimed to be a subdivision of biological anthropology. What is with that? And no where in this article is the full scope or underlying theme of the field addressed. Biological anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that studies the human organism in the context of its environment; as a product of the same evolutionary processess that are responsible for all life on earth, and is a comparative science when dealing with what is unique about humans and what we have in common with non-human primates and other animals. Biological anthropologists study contemporary human genetics and variation, the hominid fossil record, extinct and extant non-human primates, and cultural ecology. I think an expert in the field should re-write the entire introduction to give the non-expert reader a good idea about what biological anthropology really is. - Ian 76.87.113.203 (talk) 00:40, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like you should edit the article. - Boneyard90 (talk) 14:28, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Citations list useful for updating this article and related articles

You may find it helpful while reading or editing articles to look at a bibliography of Anthropology and Human Biology Citations, posted for the use of all Wikipedians who have occasion to edit articles on human genetics and related issues. I happen to have circulating access to a huge academic research library system at a university with an active research program in these issues (and to other academic libraries in the same large metropolitan area) and have been researching these issues sporadically since 1989. You are welcome to use these citations for your own research. You can help other Wikipedians by suggesting new sources through comments on that page. It will be extremely helpful for articles on human genetics to edit them according to the Wikipedia standards for reliable sources for medicine-related articles, as it is important to get these issues as well verified as possible. -- WeijiBaikeBianji (talk, how I edit) 17:51, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Phrenology

I can't help feeling that Phrenology should probably be listed here - regardless of what it actually is as a discipline. Measuring the skull and expecting to find accompanying intellectual or cultural traits seems pretty linked to Physical Anthropology to me... —Brigade Piron (talk) 08:10, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

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Belief in a European origin of humans is "scientific racism"?

I'm pretty sure that's a big NPOV. Otherwise we should call the "out of Africa" theory scientific racism as well. Hamstergamer (talk) 20:05, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Adding Forensic anthropology

Does anyone object to adding Forensic anthropology under branches or does anyone propose a better alternative for placement?

Anthropology has it listed under 'Key topics by field: archaeological and biological' so I feel like it should also be mentioned here.Kuiet (talk) 23:37, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

Go for it. Boneyard90 (talk) 05:58, 16 February 2020 (UTC)