Biological (Physical) Anthropology

Biological (or physical) anthropology examines the emergence, evolution and variability of the human form within its environmental and behavioural contexts. It integrates evidence from fossils, comparative anatomy, primate behaviour, human osteology and evolutionary theory to trace how bipedalism, brain expansion, dietary adaptations and sociality shaped our lineage. Key questions include when and where the human clade diverged from other apes, how anatomical and physiological traits co-evolved with changing climates and ecologies, and how our unique combination of dependency, cooperation and cognitive plasticity arose. Advances in skeletal biology reveal patterns of growth, health and mobility in past populations, while studies of living primates illuminate the behavioural foundations of culture, tool use and communication. By linking morphometrics, molecular data and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, researchers reconstruct lifeways from million-year-old hominins through to populations of the Holocene, underlining the interplay of genetic inheritance and ecological challenge in forging our species’ distinctive biology and global success.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Secure new dates at a cave in northern Laos extend the earliest documented presence of anatomically modern humans in Southeast Asia to between 86 and 68 thousand years ago. By combining luminescence dating of sediments with uranium-series and electron spin resonance analyses of associated mammalian teeth, researchers confirm an unexpectedly early dispersal of Homo sapiens beyond western Eurasia. Detailed three-dimensional shape analyses of cranial fragments reveal features consistent with a gracile immigrant population, yielding fresh insights into routes and timing of our species’ expansion.

Proteomic screening of over two thousand heavily fragmented bones from a Siberian cave utilised collagen fingerprinting to recover a rare Pleistocene hominin specimen. Peptide sequencing alongside mitochondrial DNA analysis demonstrated the remains to be of Neanderthal origin. This work illustrates how molecular methods can retrieve human fossils from dense animal assemblages, significantly enriching the hominin record where diagnostic bones are scarce.

Biological (Physical) Anthropology publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in biological (physical) anthropology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Palaeoanthropology: The study of human evolution through the fossil record and associated cultural evidence.

Archaeological taphonomy: Investigation of how biological, chemical and physical processes alter bones and artefacts from death or deposition to recovery.

Luminescence dating: Technique measuring trapped electrons in minerals to determine when sediments were last exposed to light.

U-series dating: Radiometric method using the decay of uranium to thorium in calcium carbonate to date bones, teeth or cave formations.

Geometric morphometrics: Quantitative analysis of biological shape using multivariate statistics on landmark coordinate data.

Collagen fingerprinting: Proteomic approach identifying species or taxonomic groups by matching characteristic peptides from bone collagen.

References

1. Early presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia by 86–68 kyr at Tam Pà Ling, Northern Laos. Nature Communications (2023).
2. Identification of a new hominin bone from Denisova Cave, Siberia using collagen fingerprinting and mitochondrial DNA analysis. Scientific Reports (2016).
3. Genetic heritage of the Baphuthi highlights an over-ethnicized notion of “Bushman” in the Maloti-Drakensberg, southern Africa. American Journal of Human Genetics (2023).
4. Blood purity and scientific independence: blood science and postcolonial struggles in Korea, 1926–1975. Science in Context (2019).
5. Blood groups and human groups: Collecting and calibrating genetic data after World War Two. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A (2014).