Boas, Franz
Abstract
Franz Boas (1858–1942) was the foremost proponent of an integrated anthropology. He pioneered research in linguistics, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and physical anthropology. His most enduring work in physical anthropology tested the stability of European racial types. Boas concluded that cranial forms and racial types were plastic, not fixed. He was an early antiracist and called for the independence of the science of culture from race biology.