Evaluating Evidence in Biological Anthropology

About this book

"Biological anthropology is a diverse field, with countless research methods and techniques in different subdisciplines. This book takes a critical perspective to the current state of the field, exploring theory and practice in paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, and ecology. Contributors challenge how evidence is discovered, collected, and interpreted, and explain that researchers gain insights by defamiliarizing themselves from well-known methods and taking a different perspective - "making the familiar strange." The book covers how researchers' biases and assumptions affect the interpretation of topics such as human evolution and population movements; race, health, and disability; bodies and embodiment; and landscapes and ecology. A final chapter includes a critical assessment of new thinking about technology, in addition to the multilayered and complex nature of both research questions and evidence. This is an insightful text for researchers and graduate students in anthropology, biology, ecology, history, and philosophy of science"--