physical anthropology

American  

noun

1. the branch of anthropology dealing with the evolutionary changes in human anatomy and physiology, using mensurational and descriptive techniques.

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physical anthropology British  

noun

1. the branch of anthropology dealing with the genetic aspect of human development and its physical variations

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physical anthropology Scientific  

/ fĭz′ĭ-kəl /

1. The branch of anthropology that deals with human evolutionary biology, physical variation, and classification.

2. Compare cultural anthropology

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Other Word Forms

• physical anthropologist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of physical anthropology

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

physical anthropology

This collaborative effort brought together paleogenomics, clinical genetics, and physical anthropology, with researchers from the University of Vienna working alongside colleagues in Italy, Portugal, and Belgium.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 17, 2026

Aleš Hrdlička, a Bohemian-born anthropologist, became the institution’s first curator of physical anthropology in 1904.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025

Despite those critiques, Morton’s approach helped lay the foundation for the burgeoning field of physical anthropology.

From Science Magazine ● Jul. 8, 2021

A group of scientists led by Douglas W. Owsley, division head of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, gained permission to study the bones.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2015

Since all other Niger-Congo speakers, as well as the Bantu, are blacks, we couldn’t have inferred who migrated in which direction just from the evidence of physical anthropology.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond