Many groups, including indigenous peoples, know about the world through prolonged relationships with the environment. Indigenous knowledge systems—those ways of knowing about and explaining the world that are specific to an indigenous community or group—are informed by their own empirical observation of a specific environment and passed down over generations.

However, religion (as well as magic, witchcraft, and other faith-based traditions) has proven notoriously difficult to define from an anthropological perspective, partly because there are so many religious practices and beliefs throughout the world that play different roles in people’s lives.

Human knowledge systems are diverse and reflect the wide range of cultures and societies throughout the world and through time.

In science there are often multiple competing theories, but over time some are eliminated, leaving the theory or theories that best explain the most evidence.

biological anthropologists are interested in how nutrition and disease affect human growth and development.

Bioarchaeologists study human skeletal remains and the soils and other materials found in and around the remains

Because these ancestors lived before there were written records, paleoanthropologists have to rely on various types of physical evidence to come to their conclusions. This evidence includes fossilized remains (particularly fossilized bones), artifacts such as stone tools, and the contexts in which these items are found.

The research done by primatologists gives us insights into how evolution has shaped our species and primates in general.

Biological anthropologists are concerned with exploring how humans vary biologically, how humans adapt to their changing environments, and how humans have evolved over time and continue to evolve today.

Applied anthropologists are employed outside of academic settings, in both the public and private sectors, including business or consulting firms, advertising companies, city government, law enforcement, the medical field, nongovernmental organizations, and even the military

Archaeologists focus on the material past: the tools, food, pottery, art, shelters, seeds, and other objects left behind by people.

to convey different kinds of love: romantic love, platonic love, maternal love, etc. The Spanish language arguably expresses more nuanced versions of love than the English language

They suspend their own sense of what is “normal” in order to understand the perspectives of the people they study (cultural relativism)

Charles Darwin (1809–1882), a naturalist and biologist, would observe similarities between fossils and living specimens, leading him to argue that all life is descended from a common ancestor.

the belief that one’s own culture is better than others—was used to justify the subjugation of non-European societies.

All these examples highlight the dynamic nature of human bodies and societies.

A cultural anthropologist studying marriage in a small village in India might consider local gender norms, existing family networks, laws regarding marriage, religious rules, and economic requisites in order to understand the particular meanings of marriage in that context

It studies humanity by exploring our past and our present and all of our biological and cultural complexity.