Alaska -- Antiquities; Eskimos; Eskimos -- Anthropometry; Indians of North America -- Alaska; Indians of North America -- Yukon
Thanks to Moore, Collins, and Stewart, all of the National Museum,
instructed by me and working with the same instruments, we now have
several small to fair series of measurements on the living western
Eskimo of both sexes. They are tabulated below. They are the first made
on these groups and will be of much interest both in general and in
connection with the measurements made on the skulls and bones of most
of the same people. The main points shown are as follows:
_Stature._--The stature of the males ranges from markedly to moderately
submedium. There is a considerable similarity. Only the Yukon group
and that of Togiak reach near or slightly above medium, the general
human medium for males approaching 165 centimeters. The female stature
on the St. Lawrence Island averages 12 centimeters less than that of
the males, which is about the difference found in most other peoples.
At Hooper Bay, and especially at the Nunivak Island, the difference is
less, indicating either that the males are slightly stunted or that the
growth of the females is somewhat favored.
_Height sitting._--The height-sitting-stature index ranges from
slightly to quite notably higher than it is in other races, indicating
a tendency toward a relatively long trunk and somewhat short limbs.
A study of the long bones shows that this is due especially, if not
wholly, to the relative shortness of the tibia; and the subdevelopment
of this bone may, it seems, be ascribed to a great deal of squatting
both at home during the long winters and in the canoes. The male Eskimo
show more difference from other males in this respect than the Eskimo
females show from other females.[128]
_Arm span._--Relatively to the stature the length of the arms in the
Eskimo males is shorter than it is in other racial groups, though there
appears to be some inequality in this respect. This shortness would be
especially marked if we compared the arm span with the height sitting.
It is due essentially to a shortness of the distal half of the upper
limbs. The males once more show this disproportion more as compared
to other males than the females compared with others of their sex.
(See comp. data in Old Americans.) This may be connected in some way
with the male Eskimo work and habits; or it may be an expression of a
correlative subdevelopment with that of the lower limbs. It is a good
point for further study.
_The head._--The head, especially when taken in relation to the
stature, is of good size, particularly on the Nunivak Island and on the
Yukon. This agrees with what is known of the Eskimo head, skull, and
brain elsewhere.
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