Anthropology is the science of Man, and more especially of man considered as a social animal.
Strictly speaking, there can be no one science of man: various parts of our knowledge of our own species fall under the head of various distinct sciences. For example, viewed as an animal organism merely, the scientific consideration of man's body belongs to the province of Biology, and in particular of that branch of it known as Zoology. Again, man's structure and functions, regarded separately, belong to the province of Anatomy and of Physiology. His mind and all his mental phenomena fall similarly under the head of Psychology. The facts and theories as to his speech and languages range themselves under the subordinate science of Philology. And so forth throughout. Nevertheless, from two distinct points of view, it may be fairly urged that a single unified science of anthropology does and ought properly to exist. In the first place, man is of immense relative importance to man; and on this ground alone it has been held desirable that the principal facts as to man's nature, origin, and history should be considered in their totality at a single glance, and with special reference to himself alone. In the second place, man is an animal so complex, so varied, so superior to all the other animals, that many aspects of his life must be scientifically examined, which do not exist at all, or exist only in a very slight degree, in the case of all other groups of organisms. More especially may it be asserted that man, as a social animal, enters into mutual relations of such unusual complexity, whether in the family, the clan, the tribe, or the nation, that a special science is imperatively needed to take cognisance of these higher social phenomena. For this science, Auguste Comte, one of the first who recognised its necessity, proposed the name of Sociology (q.v.), a name since adopted by Mr Herbert Spencer and other high authorities.
As to man's origin, two main views may be said at present to contest the field. The one, heretofore the usual belief, is based either upon the literal interpretation of Scripture or upon natural theology, and regards him as a distinct creation, separate from and superior to the remaining animals. The other, accepted by many competent biological authorities, regards him as descended from a hairy quadrumanous arboreal animal, more or less remotely allied to the anthropoid apes. This theory of his antecedents, faintly foreshadowed by Lord Mounboddoo in the 18th century, was more definitely propounded a little later by Buffon, Helvetius, Lamarck, and Erasmus Darwin, and was at last elaborated in profuse detail by Charles Darwin, whose Descent of Man forms the great storehouse of information and speculation on the question. Huxley's Man's Place in Nature may likewise be consulted on this branch of the subject, as may also Lyell's Antiquity of Man, and Dr E. B. Tylor's Anthropology. The other side of the question is ably argued in A. de Quatrefages' Races Humaines (Par. 1887). His view, till recently the only theory of man's origin, is still the one mainly accepted by orthodox thinkers, and supported by several biological specialists. As regards the period of man's first appearance on the earth, that problem must be, from the evolutionary point of view at least, to some extent a merely verbal one; because if man be really developed from some lower form, there could never have come any particular moment in the course of his evolution when he began to be a man, and ceased to be a man-like ape. But beings who were undoubtedly men in the fullest sense are known to have existed in Quaternary times; while much evidence has been adduced for pushing back the advent of man on earth to the Pliocene, and even to the Miocene period. On this point, however, see MAN (Antiquity of).
When man first appears before us in recognisable form, he appears as an erect animal, intelligent and social, endowed with articulate speech, and capable of manufacturing weapons and implements of stone, bone, wood, and other like materials. All questions as to how, on the evolutionist theory, he acquired the erect habit, already partially foreshadowed in the anthropoid apes, and how he lost the hairy covering of his body, belong strictly to the domain of anthropology, and have been argued out by Darwin, Huxley, Wallace, and others. For the peculiarly human gift of articu- late speech, often regarded as the absolute differentia of humanity, see PHILOLOGY. The unusual intelligence and mechanical ability of man are closely correlated with his large brain; and the oldest skulls yet discovered show that this exceptional development of the brain dates back to a very early period. Similarly, it is for the most part by his works and tools, indicating a high degree of intelligence, that we trace the existence of man in geological time. The fire-marked stone implements from the Calcaire de Beauce, regarded by the Abbé Bourgeois and M. Gabriel de Mortillet as of human origin, perhaps afford the first indications of his presence in Tertiary times; the Quaternary cave-deposits and the drift yield stone-hatchets and arrow-heads of more shapely make, and artistic remains of primitive pictorial type far from despicable (see ARCHEOLOGY and ART).
From the very beginning, man thus shows himself as emphatically a possessor of arts and knowledge. He alone can produce fire; and this acquaintance with fire and with the art of cooking has also frequently been regarded as the most distinctive characteristic of the human race. Fire was probably first obtained either from flint sparks, which would be observed in the act of chipping stone implements; or by means of the fire-drill, which would immediately be suggested in the act of drilling bone-needles (such as were used by the cave-men), or in the course of manufacturing shafts for arrow-heads. Clothing and decoration are also early peculiarities of man. Alone among animals, he covers himself with the skins of the beasts he has slain, and adorns himself with feathers, shells, teeth, and bones. From these simple beginnings, all the arts gradually arise. Implements slowly differentiate themselves with use into weapons on the one hand, and tools on the other. The earliest stone-axe, held apparently in the hand alone, without hafting, yields place with time to its more developed varieties, the hafted axe, the scraper, the chisel, the gouge, the drill, the arrow-head, and the lance-head, all alike chipped in stone; and these, once more, by slow degrees, give way to the newer ground and polished neolithic weapons and tools, and finally to metallic implements generally. The dug-out canoe, in like manner, leads on to the coracle, the bark canoe, the boat, the ship, and at last the steamer. Clothing sets out with skins and necklets; it quickly reaches the stage of grass kirtles and feather cloaks; and as soon as the art of weaving is discovered, it goes on to linen, cotton, silk, and velvet.
According to the more general theory of creation, man's first home was in Eden, the position of which has been greatly debated. But if we accept the evolutionary view, man perhaps had his origin in the torrid region of Asia or Africa, still the home of the anthropoid apes; for the tropics are the headquarters of the Primates, and the fossil fauna of Europe is poor in Quadrumana, while those of America and Australia do not exhibit their remains at all. In the beginning, according to their theory, man was apparently homogeneous—a single species, speaking a single primitive rude tongue (largely eked out by signs and gesture-language), and not divided into distinct varieties. At an early period, however, the species broke up into several races, now inhabiting various parts of the world, for which see ETHNOLOGY. It is a peculiarity of our species, indeed, to be strictly cosmopolitan, inhabiting all climatic zones, and found in every portion of earth except a few oceanic islands; and this universal diffusion has doubtless largely influenced race-characteristics, and by the separation it involves, has greatly increased the number and variety of anthropological problems. Similarly, it has given rise to the immense complexity of existing languages, for whose classification and affinities see PHILOLOGY. In various countries, man, under the influence of the physical and social environment, has developed diversely; has organised his family and his government on different models; has domesticated different animals—here the sheep and cow, there the horse and camel, yonder again the llama and alpaca; has cultivated different plants; has evolved different arts and sciences. The consideration of these diverse developments belongs strictly to the domain of anthropology.
In his earliest state, man appears to have been a hunter and a fisher; in the Quaternary caves, his remains are associated with harpoons and fish-hooks, and with the bones of the animals he employed for food. But he was also probably to a great extent dependent for support upon fruits and leaves, roots and seeds. This is still the condition of the lowest savages, of the Andaman Islanders, the Digger Indians, the Australian black-fellows, and the Melanesian Negritos. The Australian has for his chief weapon and hunting instrument the Boomerang (q.v.); he digs the ground with a pointed stick for tubers, roots, and a kind of large truffle. From this earliest and lowest stage we get advance first in the direction of the higher hunter life, represented by the Quaternary cave-men and the modern Eskimo, who fashion shapely harpoons for seal or walrus, frame themselves canoes of some skill, and dress from head to foot in furs neatly stitched together into good garments. The next advance is to the rudiments of agriculture, already shown in the lake dwellings of Switzerland, where the remains are found of several cereals inferior in size to those of the present day. It is usual, indeed, to divide the history of mankind into three stages, the hunting, the pastoral, and the agricultural; and this division is on the whole good. But rudiments of agriculture seem in most cases to antedate the pastoral condition. Even the Melanesians cultivate small plots of yam and taro. The North American Indians, before the arrival of Europeans, were mostly still in the hunting stage; on the prairies, they depended chiefly for support on the bison; farther north and east, on the deer, elk, and other forestine animals. But in Mexico, maize and cassava were tilled; and in Peru, the potato formed the staple food, while the llamas and alpacas were used both for burden and food. The earliest known domestic animal was the dog, found in Australia and in the Danish shell-mounds; next, perhaps, came the pig, found in Polynesia; then the reindeer; later, the sheep, cow, horse, goat, camel, elephant, yak, and cat. The nomad Mongolian of Central Asia lives mainly on the produce of his flocks and herds, especially mare's milk. Agriculture is found even in New Caledonia, where the natives cultivate local roots; throughout Polynesia, the cocoa-nut and the bread-fruit long formed the staple food; in the Malayan region, the banana (now universally raised in tropical climates) was the main staff of life. Yam, sweet potato, sago, and sugar-cane are also important tropical esculents. In Europe and Asia, the cereals, especially wheat, oats, rye, rice, barley, and millet, form the chief agricultural products. Dates and sorghum are of great value in Africa. On the rise of tillage, see De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants; on the domesticated animals, Darwin, Variation under Domestication. Agriculture began in small plots worked by hand and spade, or stick; it progressed next to the wide valleys of the Nile, the Euphrates, the Ganges, the Indus, and the Chinese rivers. It owes much to the invention of the plough. Cookery, fire, the art of grinding, the mill, the flail, the thrashing-machine, the winnowing-machine, all contribute their share to the gradual building up of civilisation.
Man alone also indulges in intoxicating, stupefying, or exciting substances, such as alcohol (in its various forms of wine, beer, whisky, koumiss, &c.), tobacco, bhang, opium, hashish, kava, and coca.
In the material life of man, the most important element, after food, is that which relates to warmth and shelter—the house, clothing, fire, and covering. Caves and rock-shelters seem to have formed the earliest houses; upon these, the wigwam of leaves and branches is a natural advance among forestine peoples. Some few wild races still live and sleep entirely in the open air, but most human beings have at least a temporary place of residence, a tent, van, wigwam, cabin, crannog, or snow-hut. Architecture is concerned with the evolution of these to the modern mansion, palace, or cathedral. Clothing originated, it would seem, in ornament, but its use for warmth must also have come very early. A few savages still go stark naked, and so apparently (to judge from their sketches) did the men of the older stone age; but the loins, at least, are generally clad, and among higher races the whole body also. Painting and tattooing, though solely decorative in character, may likewise be considered under this head, as well as the deformations and mutilations of various parts of the body, frequently practised by many savages. These, though originally perhaps (as Mr Herbert Spencer believes) ceremonial or religious in character, have now, for the most part, assumed a purely tribal or æsthetic meaning. Important in the same general connection is the evolution of household furniture; a bed of some sort, be it only of grass or dead leaves, seems all but universal among human beings; the stool or chair is almost equally ancient; coverlets, blankets, sofas, and so forth, gradually follow. The fire and cookery imply some sort of rude vessels; at first, no doubt, calabashes and cocoa-nuts, gourds and skins, horns and skulls; then at last Pottery (q.v.), moulded originally as moist clay round natural forms to prevent them from burning when placed upon the fire, and at last assuming the definite shape of an independent art. On the evolution of these, as of jewelry, hair-dressing, and other similar domestic arts, see in details under those various headings.
Among the practices most distinctive of man may be reckoned war; for though the lower animals fight among themselves, they seldom do so in organised bodies. War is a result of the social habits of man, and itself has been instrumental in bringing about many of the higher human developments. Besides its direct effect in producing the gradual evolution of weapons (as distinguished from tools), setting out with the stone axe, and ending with the Armstrong gun, the rifle, and the ironclad, it has had an immense indirect effect in begetting civil organisations, welding together men under military discipline, determining the monarchical form of government, and consolidating independent tribes and nations under one great centralised despotism. War is also probably answerable for the institution of slavery (the slave being at first the captive in battle), as well as for the existence of caste and many other social distinctions. It seems likely that cannibalism is a direct result of war; and at least one great military despotism, that of Mexico (q.v.), was absolutely founded upon cannibalism, which there assumed a marked governmental and religious importance.
The question as to the rise of marriage and of the family life forms another large department of anthropology. Promiscuity, or so-called communal marriage, seems, according to recent investigators, to have been the aboriginal practice of savage men. From this natural state, two main lines seem to diverge. Where female infanticide is practised, the number of women becomes insufficient for the men, and polyandry is the result. But elsewhere, starting from so-called marriage by capture, where each man stole a woman for himself from another tribe, we get evolved the more familiar polygamous or monogamic family. The problems of anthropology in this respect, the varieties of exogamy and endogamy, the rise of polygamy, and its gradual evolution into monogamy, have been traced in McLennan's Primitive Marriage, Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity, Tylor's Primitive Culture, Herbert Spencer's Principles of Sociology, and Letourneau's Sociology. Closely connected with this aspect of the subject are all questions as to the position of woman, her legal and social status; the constitution of the family, patriarchal, matriarchal, or slave-owning; the various methods of reckoning kinship; prohibited degrees; the claims of the children; divorce, widowhood, second marriage, and the practice of suttee. Among the more interesting of these developments may be mentioned Totemism (q.v.), a subject largely elucidated in Mr Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth (1884), and Myth, Ritual, and Religion (1887).
The exact relations of the family to the tribe remain open to much doubt. But almost everywhere human society, in its early stages, resolves itself into such little groups, more or less loosely held together, and occupying, as a rule (except among nomads), a definite and circumscribed piece of territory. The tribe is least marked among the lowest races—the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Andamanese, the Eskimo, who exist almost as families alone, without subordination or headship; it gradually expands, as we move upwards, into the nation, the kingdom, and the empire. The earliest tribes are kingless and formless; they have no definite organisation. But war usually produces kingship, and in tribes that have long been predatory and militant in type, the kingship hardens into a fixed despotism. The various influences of militancy and industrialism, the growth of the different types of government, and the rise of free institutions and of legislative bodies, have been admirably traced in Mr Herbert Spencer's Principles of Sociology. In his Ceremonial Institutions he has also shown the importance of that system of etiquette which rules the lives of men in all societies from day to day, and constitutes in its own way a form of government scarcely less imperative than the political authority. The manners and customs of savage and semi-civilised people, often very extraordinary and disgusting, form a large department of anthropological science. Law is also a branch of sociology to be affiliated here; and the growth of the idea of property belongs similarly to this part of the science of anthropology. Sir Henry Sumner Maine's works may be consulted upon this subject.
Man is one of the few animals to pay special attention to his dead. Funeral rites differ much from place to place, and form a special subject of anthropological study. Tumuli, pyramids, standing-stones, and other forms of funeral monument, have each their history and implications. Especially does man almost everywhere believe in some sort of survival of the individual after death, and in the existence within himself of a soul or spirit, which outlives its fleshy habitation. The origin of Religion (q.v.) is largely connected with these ideas of a future life and a future world. Herbert Spencer traces it directly to the theory of ghosts and ancestor-worship; Dr Tylor, to what he calls Animism (q.v.), or the belief in souls universally pervading all natural objects. At anyrate, anthropology has to deal on this side with the growth of worship, of the fetish, of the ghost, and of myth; the ideas of gods, demons, and supernatural beings generally; the rise of altars, temples, mosques, and churches; the notion of sacrifice; and the various great creeds of the world—heathenism, fetichism, Shamanism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. A special side of this department of anthropology is Comparative Mythology (q.v.). Max Müller's works present one aspect of this subject; Lang's Custom and Myth, and Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Clodd's Myths and Dreams, and Spencer's Sociology, show the other.
Ethics and moral philosophy are from this standpoint a branch of anthropology, touching on the one side upon religion, and on the other side upon law and the social relations. Political economy may also be regarded as a closely allied branch of anthropological science.
Finally, æsthetics, and the history of the arts and sciences, have themselves their anthropological aspect. The history of civilisation; the art of dancing, and of vocal and instrumental music; painting and sculpture; architecture; decoration; navigation; communications; education; picture-language, hieroglyphics, and alphabetic writing; in short, all that specially appertains to human life, savage or civilised, ancient or modern, all the world over, falls somewhere into its proper place as a part of anthropology.
For the general study of the subject, see especially the writings of Broca, regarded by many as the real founder of anthropology; Lubbock, Prehistoric Times (1865), and Origin of Civilisation (1870); Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind (1865), Primitive Culture (1871), and Anthropology (1881); Bagehot, Physics and Politics (1872); Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology (1876 et seq.); Letourneau, Sociology (Eng. trans. 1877); Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvölker (1859–65; continued by Gerland, 1867–71); the Dictionnaire des Sciences Anthropologiques (1882 et seq.); Ratzel, History of Mankind (trans. by Butler, 3 vols. 1891–99); A. H. Keane, Anthropology (1897) and Man, Past and Present (1899); W. G. Smith, Man the Primeval Savage (1894); Miss Sincox, Primitive Civilisations (1894); Wiedersheim, The Structure of Mankind (trans. 1895); the journals of the Anthropological Societies; and the articles in this work on ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY, BURIAL, STONE AGE, BRONZE AGE, IRON AGE, SKULL, LAKE DWELLINGS, &c., and books there cited.