Franz Boas was an American anthropologist who is considered to be one of the founders of American anthropology. He is best known for his commitment to a “holistic” practice of anthropology, combining linguistics, archaeology, physical anthropology, and ethnography in a complete biocultural and historical understanding of a given culture. He opposed cultural evolutionary theories, arguing instead that cultural variation is the outcome of particular historical trajectories and not any generalizable processes. He also opposed race theory and compiled empirical evidence against race-based arguments of physical and cultural variation that some scholars believe turned the tide against race theory in the American academe.