Physical and Biological Anthropology

About this unit

Physical (biological) anthropology studies human beings as biological organisms. It asks how humans evolved, how we are related to other primates, why human populations differ in body form and genetic traits, and how inheritance works. This unit links biology with the study of human societies, because many human differences come from an interaction of genes, environment and culture.

Key ideas

• Theories of evolution: Lamarckism, Darwinism and their modern forms (Neo-Lamarckism and Neo-Darwinism).
• Primates: the order to which humans belong, with traits such as grasping hands, forward-facing eyes and large brains.
• Hominin evolution: Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
• Human variation in body size, body shape, skin colour and genetic traits, often linked to climate.
• Mendelian inheritance, sex-linked traits, polygenic and multifactorial inheritance.
• Chromosomes and aberrations such as Down, Turner and Klinefelter syndromes.
• Forces of evolution (mutation, selection, drift, gene flow) and genetic markers such as blood groups.

How to prepare

Learn the order of hominin species with their key features (brain size, tools, region). Practise simple Mendelian crosses and pedigree reasoning. Memorise the chromosome formulae of common syndromes and the rules of Bergmann and Allen. Expect both factual recall and short application questions.