What are four branches of Anthropology? Write down their scope & relevanc?

     In this article you are going to know about the four sub-field of anthropology, which are following-- 

  We can describe anthropology as the science of man in totality. So, it is almost impossible for a single anthropologist to give the whole account of this subject or anything about man. That's why this very subject anthropology has been divided into several branches or sub-field. In present situation anthropology has been divided in mainly four(4) sub-fields.

The main sub-fields of anthropology are-

• Physical/Biological anthropology
• Social-Cultural Anthropology 
• Archaeological Anthropology
• Linguistic Anthropology

The above sub-fields are may be called the four-fold division of anthropology which has developed by Franz Boas.

Let's us know about the concepts of these sub-fields-

(i) Physical/Biological anthropology   :  Biological anthropology, also known as the Physical anthropology, it is the study of man from their biological and behavioral aspects. It is mainly concerned with the evolution of humans, their variability, ability of adaptability to various environments, comparative anatomy between man and their closest non human primate etc.

It provides the biological perspective of systemic study of man like- Biological anthropologists seek to documents and explain the patterning biological  variation among contemporary human population. Trace the evolution of our lineage through time in the fossils records.

(ii) Socio-Cultural anthropology   :  Socio-Cultural anthropology is combined by the two word 'society' and 'culture'. It is concerned mainly with the study of human society along with their culture( or anything they use to behave or practices for staying and maintaining in a society). This field is mainly focused on the study about their cultural practices in a society across different time and spaces like- changes of cultural practices in a community through different time, commonness' of cultural traits between two or more societies, what are the uniqueness, by which one culture  can be distinguished from another cultural group, social structures of different cultural groups etc. 

(iii) Archaeological Anthropology   :   The essence of archaeology is the study of human past that deepens our understanding of the world in a more meaningful and resourceful manner. The study of human past means the study of human behavioral and cognitive systems within given socio-politico-cultural contexts that transformed the humanity through time and space.

 In anthropology we study the archaeology mainly in the prehistoric time.

         

    Archaeology is a science involving the study of human past through materials remains.

The main focus of this field is for investigation to obtain a complete picture of human behavioral and cognitive systems by examining the prehistoric material remains (like tools, artifacts, pottery, buildings etc.) used by prehistoric man.

(iv) Linguistic Anthropology : Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to documents endangered languages, and has grown over the past century to encompass most aspects of language structure and use.