AnthropOLogy > What is Anthropology?

Have you ever wondered about people living in different parts of the world today? What would it be like to go to school in Japan or grow up in a Buddhist temple in Tibet?

How did people live in the past — when your grandparents were kids, 200 years ago, or even 6,000 years ago? How have societies changed over time? And how have humans evolved? 

These are some of the questions that anthropologists ask. Anthropologists are scientists who study groups of people all over the world. They try to understand the "big picture" of what it means to be human.

The word "anthropology" comes from the Greek anthropos ("human") and logia ("study"). Anthropology is the study of people everywhere — today, yesterday, and long ago.

Anthropology has four main branches. 

• Cultural anthropology is the study of how people live — in the present and the recent past.
• Linguistic anthropology is the study of language within the context of anthropology.
• Archaeology  is the study of past people through the things they left behind.
• Biological anthropology is the study of how humans have evolved and differences within the species.

Cultural anthropologists study present cultures. Some also study cultures in the recent past using what people remember and have recorded.

What we call "culture" is everything that makes up the way a group of people live. It includes their beliefs, values, and traditions. 

Culture is usually passed down from one generation to the next. For example, how does your family celebrate holidays? Maybe there's a special food or prayer that's been passed down by your grandparents and great-grandparents. Or your family might have a holiday game you play every year. Culture is also always changing. For example, can you think of a new holiday food or custom in your family?

It would be a huge job to study everything about one culture. So an anthropologist usually focuses on just one part of a culture. For example, how do people in a Malaysian village celebrate the birth of a baby? What is life like for Ghanaian immigrants in New York City? How do Americans act at sporting events — do they act differently than they do in everyday life?

Cultural anthropologists try to see things through the eyes of the people they're studying. To get a real insider's view, they do fieldwork. They go to the places where people live. 

But before they go, cultural anthropologists spend years preparing. They want to understand what it would be like to be part of the culture. They read all about the history and customs of the people. They also learn to speak their language. 

When they get there, anthropologists usually spend more than a year with the people they study. And they might go back many times over several decades. They live with the people. They observe what people do and how they live and ask lots of questions. They take photos, films, and audio recordings. Along the way, they record their observations and interviews in field journals and computers. 

Fieldwork is only part of their job. After the trip, they analyze what they learned and write about it to share with others.

Think about the ways that you use words to share ideas, ask questions, or tell jokes with friends. That's your language. Language is something that makes us human. Without language, people could not pass down ideas, history, and beliefs.

Languages can tell us about the people who speak them. For example, children in Japan and Korea speak one way to their friends, but a different way to people who are older like a parent or teacher. They don't just use polite words. They speak in longer and different sentences. This way of speaking shows the importance of manners and respect for elders in Japanese and Korean society.

In the study of language, scientists look at present and past languages. They document the history of spoken and written language. Some study how languages began when early humans started to speak. Others study how different languages developed over time. They look for links between languages in different societies and also make connections between language and the brain. Anthropologists are among many who study language, since language has much to tell us about ourselves.

Archaeologists use the things people left behind to help us understand how they lived long ago. Archaeologists find and study objects like broken pottery, graves, and ancient homes and other ruins. These objects can provide clues about how people lived, such as what they ate and how they worshipped. 

Over time, most objects from the past decay or get buried. At dig sites, archaeologists carefully excavate  and record artifacts that they find and the way the artifacts are arranged. Archaeologists use this information to create a picture of what life was like long ago. Sometimes they have to piece together this picture without any written records at all.

Biological anthropologists study how humans and their ancestors have evolved — or changed over time. They also study how humans behave and interact with their environment. They ask questions like: How did early humans hunt and search for food? When did humans first settle in the Americas? 

To find out, some biological anthropologists examine fossil remains of humans that lived tens or hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago. Others may find clues by studying our closest relatives living today. They look at how other primates, such as apes, monkeys, and lemurs, behave in their habitats. 

Biological anthropologists are also interested in variations within our species, like our body types, facial features, and skin colors. As humans spread across every continent over thousands of years, minor differences developed between people living in different places. 

Sometimes, biological anthropologists are called in to help the police solve crimes. They examine a victim's remains to look for clues about the person's identity and how he or she lived and died.