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Typology in anthropology
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 is the division of the human species by races. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists used a typological model to divide people from different ethnic regions into races, (e.g. negroid
Negroid

Negroid is an adjective derived from the term Negro and refers to a Race of people whose recent ancestors are mostly from sub-Saharan Africa. The concept originated with a now defunct typological method of racial classification, but is still used, in a less rigid or essentialism sense, by many anthropology, especially physical anthropolog...
, caucasoid, mongoloid which were part of the racial system defined by Carleton S. Coon
Carleton S. Coon

Carleton Stevens Coon, was a United States biological anthropology, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and lecturer and professor at Harvard....
). This approach focused on traits that are readily observable from a distance such as head shape, skin color, hair form, body build, and stature.

The typological model was built on the assumption that humans can be assigned to a race based on similar physical traits.






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Typology in anthropology
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 is the division of the human species by races. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists used a typological model to divide people from different ethnic regions into races, (e.g. negroid
Negroid

Negroid is an adjective derived from the term Negro and refers to a Race of people whose recent ancestors are mostly from sub-Saharan Africa. The concept originated with a now defunct typological method of racial classification, but is still used, in a less rigid or essentialism sense, by many anthropology, especially physical anthropolog...
, caucasoid, mongoloid which were part of the racial system defined by Carleton S. Coon
Carleton S. Coon

Carleton Stevens Coon, was a United States biological anthropology, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and lecturer and professor at Harvard....
). This approach focused on traits that are readily observable from a distance such as head shape, skin color, hair form, body build, and stature.

The typological model was built on the assumption that humans can be assigned to a race based on similar physical traits. However, author Dennis O'Neil says the typological model in anthropology is now thoroughly discredited. Current mainstream thinking is that the morphological traits are due to simple variations in specific regions, and are the effect of climatic selective pressures. Those who claim typological models are scientific are criticized as anecdotal and unsupported by credible scientific evidence. This debate is covered in more detail in the article on race.