Biological anthropology

For instance, physical anthropology will focus on Australopithecus afarensis, Paranthropus boisei, Homo erectus, bipedalism (full bipedalism or combined with arboreal), use of fire (cooking gives more nutrient and energy), teeth structure and jaw strength (sagittal crest (more the crest more they ate hard foods like nuts), did they eat hard food or soft food), relative height and brain size of the species, opposable thumb, Out of Africa theory and multiregional models, species replacement or mating between hominid species if that's the case, the time the species likely appeared and/or went extinct, physical environment the species lived in (savanna, desert), radiocarbon dating, chin (one of the differences between Homo sapiens species and Homo erectus for instance), etc. It tries to give distinct characteristics and reasons to try to understand the whole picture of human evolution.

Physical anthropology uses the scientific method with extensive cross analysis and revision if necessary.

Practitioners began calling their science "biological anthropology" when the rise of genetics, and successful attempts to study non-human primates in their natural habitat, allowed anthropologists to rely on evidence other than bones.