physical anthropology

Compound of physical +‎ anthropology. Attested from the 19th century.

physical anthropology (uncountable)

1. (anthropology) The branch of anthropology that studies physical aspects of human beings and closely related species; biological anthropology.
   • 1890, Gerson Da Cunah, “The nasal index in biological anthropology”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay‎, page 533:

     In the meantime I must briefly refer to the doubt that has often been raised about the utility of minute measurements, deep studies of physical anthropology, statistical tables, and elaborate maps,

   • 1997, Jacob W. Gruber, “American Philosophical Society”, in History of Physical Anthropology, page 64:

     By the end of the century, the APS’s membership included the leaders of the American anthropological establishment, whose primary investigative interests were the ethnography, linguistics, archeology, and physical anthropology of the American Indian, within a theoretical structure that was essentially historical.

• cultural anthropology
• social anthropology
• linguistic anthropology
• archaeology