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How long have human beings, as we know them now, been on earth? How can evolution be 'just a theory' and also a fact? How are we different from and similar to our evolutionary 'cousins', the apes (i.e., gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos)? Why can it be said that we are all Africans? Do human beings exist in different races? How far back can we trace a human presence in what is now Canada? How do forensic anthropologists do their work? These questions and more will be addressed in this introduction to physical anthropology. Anthropology attempts to study all aspects of human life for all times. Physical anthropology primarily looks at humans as the physical product of a particular evolutionary past. We will investigate that past, drawing upon diverse areas of study that include archaeology, paleoanthropology, biology, geology, and primatology.