The branch of human culture that studies the development over time of the bodily characteristics and the differences in appearances among the various people of the world, as distinct from cultural differences: Physical anthropology is concerned with the related problems of tracing the emergence of mankind as an animal form and the nature, causes, and significance of past and present variations in the biological characteristics of the various human species and breeds.

Some law enforcement agencies often call upon physical anthropologists to identify skeletal remains because of the kinds of information which may be derived from a skeleton about the gender, age, stature, race, bone diseases, individual structural peculiarities; such as, right-handed or left-handedness; and the major blood types which can be determined because blood group substances are present in several tissues and fluids of the bodiy, includig the spongy tissue found inside the vertebrae and the joints of the long bones.