Alaska -- Antiquities; Eskimos; Eskimos -- Anthropometry; Indians of North America -- Alaska; Indians of North America -- Yukon
Contrasted with the long bones of miscellaneous North American tribes
taken together, the Yukon Indian bones show absolutely slightly
shorter humerus (or arm), somewhat shorter radius (or forearm), a
slightly shorter femur (or upper part of the leg), and a plainly
shorter tibia. These Indians had therefore relatively somewhat shorter
forearm and especially the leg below the knees than their continental
cousins. These facts are plainly evident from the radio-humeral and
tibio-femoral indices of the two groups. In this relative shortness of
the distal parts of the limbs the Yukon Indian approaches the Eskimo,
standing near midway between the Indian in general and the Eskimo.
There might be a ready temptation to attribute this to a mixture with
the Eskimo; but an examination of the records will show that the same
condition, so far at least as the upper limb is concerned (lower?), is
already present in the old Bonasila skeleton, which gives no suggestion
of an Eskimo mixture. It is more likely, therefore, that these are
generalized characteristics of functional origin such as a considerable
use of the small canoes. This view seems to be supported by the
relative strength of the bones. In the Yukon Indian the humerus is
stouter, the femur of the same strength, and the tibia very perceptibly
weaker than they are in Indians in general. In the Eskimo, with even
greater dependence on the canoe, both the humerus and the femur are
notably stouter, while the tibia is weaker, than are similar bones in
the Indians in general.
The humero-femoral index in the Yukon Indians is unusually high,
indicating a relative shortness of the femur. This character is not
present in the Eskimo, nor in the continental Indian. It is probably
also of old functional origin, though, this for the present must remain
a mere suggestion.
All of this shows clearly the interest and value of other skeletal
parts than the skull, and particularly of the long bones, for
anthropological studies.
SKELETAL REMAINS FROM THE BANK AT BONASILA
The skeletal material from the bank at Bonasila consists now of
portions of three adult skulls, one male and two females, and of 13
bones of the male skeleton. All the specimens are more or less stained
by manganese and iron and all are distinctly heavier than normal,
showing some grade of fossilization. They closely resemble in all these
respects the numerous animal bones from the bank and in all differ from
the later surface burials of the place.
THE CRANIA
The male skull, No. 332513, is represented by the frontal bone united
with a larger part of the face, a separated left temporal, and the
right half of the lower jaw. A large Inca bone, recovered from the
beach a year later, may also belong to the same specimen. The missing
parts are probably still somewhere in the sands of the beach where
there is going on a very instructive scattering and redeposition on a 4
to 6 feet lower level of the contents of the old bank.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account