Anthropologists
Anthropologists trace the origin and
evolutionary development of the human race
through the study of changing
physical characteristics and cultural and social
institutions.
Anthropological data, including that acquired by archeological
techniques,
may be applied to solving problems in human relations such as race
and ethnic
relations and education. People have always been interested in their
past
history. Although anthropology dates back to Aristotle, it is a
commonly
accepted fact that it became an established science during the
Victorian era or
the era of exploration. Anthropology has developed slowly
since then with little
real development until the 1930's when the use of
applied anthropological
research began to be stresssed by a number of various
governments. Prior to the
19th century, anthropologists relied primarily
on facts gathered from travelers'
reports and documents received from other
nonprofessional observers. During the
early years of this century
Scandinavian archaeologists developed a new approach
to artifacts. C.J.
Thomsen classified the material on the basis of three
successive
technological ages of stone, bronze, and iron. Then by the 20th
century, much
stress has been placed on actual exploration by trained
anthropologists.
Anthropologists constitute the smallest group of social
scientists, yet they
cover teh widest range of subject matter. Cultural
anthropology, the area in
which the greatest number of anthropologists
specialize, deals with human
behavior, both past and present, as well as the
beliefs people hold in
relation to religion, language, and many other areas. To
study this
effectively, cultural anthropologists often work with smaller, less
complex,
and perhaps more easily understood societies including teh tribal
societis of
Asia. Physical anthropologists are concerned primarily with the
biology of
human groups. They study the differences between the members of past
and
present human societies and are particularly interested in the
geographical
distribution of human physical
characteristics.
Bibliography
Cover, Lois. Anthropology For Our
Times. New York: Oxford Book Company, 1971.
Hopke, William. The
Encyclopedia of Careers. Illinois: J.G. Ferguson Publishing
Company,
1984. Grolier Encyclopedia. Computer software. Grolier
Electronic
Publications, Inc., 1993. IBM, 128k, CD-ROM.