Physical anthropology

Physical anthropology

The branch of anthropology that studies the development of the human race in the context of other primate species.

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Physical anthropology

chorionic villi sampling

Anthropology; Physical anthropology

A diagnostic procedure for pregnant women to determine whether or not their fetuses have gross chromosomal anomalies. It involves collecting a small sample of chorion cells for karyotyping. The ...

A small population size effect in which the genes of a few people (the population founders) are inherited over time by a large number of descendents. This is also known as the "founder effect" and ...

regional continuity model

Anthropology; Physical anthropology

A hypothesis to explain the origin of modern Homo sapiens. It proposes that modern people evolved from archaic humans in Africa, Europe, and Asia. In other words, modern African, European, and Asian ...

dominance hierarchy

Anthropology; Physical anthropology

A group of individuals arranged in rank order. In some non-human primate species, each community has a distinct male and female dominance hierarchy. Every individual is ranked relative to all other ...

parallelism

Anthropology; Physical anthropology

A similar evolutionary development in different species lines after divergence from a common ancestor that had the initial anatomical feature that led to it. Parallelism is thought to be due ...

prokaryotic cell

Anthropology; Physical anthropology

A cell that lacks a true nucleus and divides by simple fission rather than mitosis. Bacteria and blue-green algae are prokaryotes. See eukaryotic cell.