pertaining to humans. In fact, the traditional textbook definition of anthropology is “the study of humans.” What makes anthropology different from other subjects that study human beings and human behavior, such as history, geography, political science, philosophy, sociology, economics, and psychology, is that anthropology considers both biology and culture. Culture is learned behavior. Culture includes the social and economic systems, customs, religion, and other behaviors that are acquired through the process of learning. The joint emphasis on both culture and biology is central to anthropology and vital to our understanding of the human condition. The biocultural perspective of anthropology establishes its strength as a science: it is holistic, in that it takes into consideration all aspects of human life. Another important strength of the discipline is that it is temporally unbounded—it considers humans today and in the remote past.

Physical anthropology focuses on biological evolution of humans and their ancestors, the relationship of humans to other organisms, and patterns of biological variation within and among human populations. Physical anthropology is sometimes referred to by another name—biological anthropology. There are several specialties of physical anthropology including primate studies (primatology), paleoanthropology, and human variation, which will be further described in Chapter 1. Because of its broad scope, physical anthropology has borrowed principles from evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, genetics, medicine, paleontology, zoology, geology, and demography. The knowledge and skills needed for one specialization, such as primatology, may differ greatly from those needed to study another specialization. There is, however, agreement over what basic principles should be taught in physical anthropology coursework. Thus, students acquiring an undergraduate or graduate degree in physical anthropology not only learn the fundamentals of the discipline but also obtain additional training according to their specialization and requirements of the departmental program.

The subject of this book is careers in physical anthropology. Most physical anthropology graduate students have traditionally aspired to a career as a college or university faculty member in an anthropology department. Until the early 1970s, such a career was a reasonable expectation. However, during the last decade there has been increased interest in alternative careers. This is largely due to the fact that in the mid-1970s the number of new Ph.D.s in physical anthropology that were produced exceeded the job market for positions in U.S. anthropology departments. Formal recognition of this crisis was made in 1982 when the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) established an ad hoc committee to study and act upon the problem. In 1985, the ad hoc committee was elevated to the status of a standing committee (Career Development) and in 1990, the AAPA gave the committee funds to produce a brochure devoted to describing nonacademic careers for physical anthropologists. The brochure was distributed to every anthropology department in the United States. Subsequently, the

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