Final answer:
Anthropology incorporates concepts from biology, genetics, and archaeology, using evolutionary theory and natural selection to explore human evolution. Theories such as cultural evolutionism and practices like ethnology also play significant roles in understanding human culture and origins.
Step-by-step explanation:
Anthropology has borrowed from various branches of science, including biology, genetics, linguistics, and archaeology. It extensively utilizes evolutionary theory proposed by Charles Darwin, particularly the concept of natural selection, to understand human evolution. Concepts such as mutation, speciation, gene flow, and genetic drift are central to biological anthropology. Other theories such as cultural evolutionism, proposed by Edward Tylor, have also influenced anthropology, positing a progression from "savagery" to "barbarism" to "civilization." To comprehend how nature shapes humanity, anthropologists integrate environmental aspects into their study, assessing how these have influenced human biology and culture across time.
The field of anthropology also comprises subfields such as ethnology, paleoanthropology, and genetic anthropology, each contributing unique insights into human origins, variations, and behaviors. Ethnology, for instance, facilitates the cross-cultural comparison of different groups to understand migration patterns and cultural relationships.