Graduated from The University of Alabama-Birmingham

Anthropology is composed of 4 subjects: Culture, Linguistics, Biology/Physical, and Archeology.

Cultural Anthropology is the study of modern – not ancient – cultures around the world. When it involves studying developed nations, it’s easily confused with sociology. There isn’t much of a difference between Sociology and Anthropology in that regard, but Cultural Anthropologists usually study indigenous peoples and cultures very different from our own.

Or an Anthropologist can specialize in Linguistics, which is how language and culture are connected and the development of languages.

A Biological Anthropologist studies the physical aspects of human development over time, such as with evolution. They might further specialize into Forensic Anthropology, which is the application of Anthropology for legal purposes. Anthropology is needed for legal purposes when it comes to identifying human remains. Physical Anthropologists are trained in identifying human bones as opposed to animal bones, and Forensic Anthropologists go deeper with identifying the statistical likelihood that the human bones are male/female, age at time of death, and other physical characteristics of the individual before death, including facial reconstruction. Those were my favorite courses, and I have a skull that I correctly identified in my studio given to me by my professor, who was often given skeletal remains by the legal community to help solve cases.

Archeology is the study of past cultures based on ancient cultural artifacts, typically cultures that pre-date written records. 

As an Anthropology undergraduate, I had to cover all the bases: Cultural, Physical, Language, and Archeology. I had a terrible Archeology teacher so didn’t go any further with that subject. However, when I joined my professor who had to train the FBI one day on uncovering human remains, I learned that the same skills archeologists use for uncovering buried artifacts are the same skills for uncovering buried remains at a crime scene.