Anthropology literally means the ‘study of humanity,’ and, as such, it is perhaps the most broadly conceived social science, typically being subdivided into four main sub-fields:

• cultural anthropology – the cross-cultural comparative study of human cultures, including historically the analysis of the core features (e.g., subsistence strategies, kinship systems, religion, gender roles, etc.) of non-Western ‘traditional’ societies;
• prehistoric archaeology – the study of human cultural evolution from the Old Stone Age to the emergence of complex literate societies;
• physical/biological anthropology – the study of human physical evolution and the analysis of the contemporary biological diversity of Homo sapiens, examining critically the biological and social significance of human racial diversity;
• linguistic anthropology – the cross-cultural study of human languages – their origins, historical relations, and the interaction between language and culture, including how linguistic tools and concepts help us understand culture.

Anthropology, thus, is the study of human physical and biological evolution and diversity.