ANTHROPOLOGY (from the Greek antropos – man, and logos – reason, knowledge) – the science of the origin and evolution of humans.

In Western Europe and the United States, anthropology is the humanities science in all its social, cultural and physical (anatomy, physiology, anthropogenesis) dimensions, which also includes ethnology as the most important element. From the French school point of view, which takes the material and physical aspects of human existence beyond the anthropology, it is a subsection of sociology. From the point of the Anglo-Saxon school, anthropology is a multidisciplinary science that consists of four sections (anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, prehistoric archeology, ethnolinguistics).

Physical anthropology studies the processes and stages of the emergence of man as a species, as well as the nature of interspecies variations, their anatomical and physiological characteristics, and other significant biological facts. Physical anthropologists are interested in human genetics, i.e. its hereditary characteristics. Issues of morphology (parameters of the human body and analysis of its physical characteristics), as well as the adaptive interaction of man as a biological being with culture and the natural environment.

Cultural anthropology is concerned with the study of human behavior and the results of its activities. The key to culture is its understanding as a system of symbols. The most common symbolic system is the language as a means of oral and written communication.

Prehistoric archeology studies anthropogenesis (the origin of homo sapiens) and the subsequent development of man, explains the historical diversity of peoples life. This science allows using the latest achievements of physics, chemistry and biology to date and determine the purpose of fossil remains and artifacts, helping to recreate the way of life of our ancestors.

In modern science, there are various options for systematization of anthropological disciplines. Therefore, anthropology includes archeology, ethnography, ethnology, folklore, linguistics, etc. As the human world develops and becomes more complicated, scientific specialization grows, and the set of anthropological disciplines gradually expands. So in it began to allocate medical anthropology (human psychology, human genetics), human ecology, etc.