Part 30

Chapter 302,608 wordsPublic domain

(11) Togiak 81.8 (25) Nelson Island 82.1 (6) Southwest Alaska 82.3 (6) Pilot Station, Yukon 82.3 (10) Mumtrak 82.5 (13) Hooper Bay 82.7 (116) Nunivak Island 83.3 (5) Chukchee 83.3 (34) Pastolik and Yukon Delta 83.4 (4) Port Clarence 83.4 (29) Indian Point (Siberia) 83.8 (279) St. Lawrence Island 84.1 (12) Little Diomede Island 84.5 (14) St. Michael Island 85.1

_Northwestern_

(69) Barrow 83.8 (99) Point Barrow 84.1 Kotzebue Sound and Kobuk (2) River 84.4 (20) Shishmaref 84.5 (33) Wales 85.0 (216) Point Hope 85.7 (4) Golovnin Bay--Cape Nome 85.9 (51) Igloos, southwest of Barrow 86.3

_Northern and northeastern_

(7) Hudson Bay and vicinity 82.2 (15) Northern Arctic 82.7 (33) Baffin Land and vicinity 84.4 (9) Smith Sound 85.1 (101) Greenland 85.1 (15) Southampton Island 85.5

The height-breadth index (H×100)/(B) of the Eskimo skull shows in substance the same conditions as did the mean height index, but while less informative or dependable on one side, on the other it accentuates the relative narrowness of the skull in some of the groups.

ESKIMO: HEIGHT-BREADTH INDEX OF THE SKULL

MEAN OF BOTH SEXES IN ASCENDING ORDER

_Southwestern and midwestern_

(12) Togiak 91.9 (6) Pilot Station, Lower Yukon 92.8 (10) Mumtrak 93.1 (5) Chukchee 93.1 (13) Hooper Bay 93.2 (25) Nelson Island 93.7 (5) Yukon Delta 94.7 (5) Southwest Alaska 95.2 (12) Little Diomede Island 96.3 (279) St. Lawrence Island 96.5 (116) Nunivak Island 96.7 (31) Indian Point (Siberia) 96.7 (29) Pastolik 96.8 (6) Cape Nome and Port Clarence 97.0 (14) St. Michael Island 98.2

_Northwestern_

(99) Point Barrow 98.7 (69) Barrow 98.8 (20) Shishmaref 98.9 (216) Point Hope 99.2 Kotzebue Sound and Kobuk (3) River 99.6 (33) Wales 100.3 (51) Igloos, southwest of Barrow 105.0

_Northern and eastern_

(7) Hudson Bay and vicinity 95.3 (16) North Arctic 97.8 (9) Smith Sound 98.3 (15) Southampton Island 99.8 (33) Baffin Land and vicinity 99.9 (101) Greenland 101.8

FOOTNOTES:

[153] These subdivisions are somewhat arbitrary and may, as data accumulate and are better understood, be found to need some modification.

THE FACE

The facial dimensions of the Eskimo skull offer a number of points of unusual interest. The face is absolutely and especially relatively to stature very large in all measurements. It is particularly high between the upper alveolar point and nasion.

The large size of the Eskimo face will best be appreciated from a few figures.

FACIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE WESTERN AND OTHER ESKIMO CRANIA COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE SIOUAN AND ALGONQUIAN TRIBES

+-------------------+---------------+------+---------- | Southwestern and | Eskimo |Siouan|Algonquian | midwestern Eskimo | in general |tribes| tribes +----------+--------+------+--------+------+---------- |Mean of 14| 10 | 27 | 22 | 12 | 15 | groups | groups |groups| groups |groups| groups | (male) |(female)|(male)|(female)|(male)| (female) -----------------+----------+--------+---------------+------+---------- Total height | | | | | | (ment.-nas.) | 12.60 | (11.63)| 12.52| (11.59)| 12.26| 12.11 Upper height | | | | | | (alv. pt.-nas.)| 7.87 | (7.29)| 7.79| (7.21)| 7.52| 7.35 Diameter | | | | | | bizyg. max. | 14.25 | (13.27)| 14.26| (13.22)| 14.16| 13.89 Module of | | | | | | upper face | | | | | | (U. H. + B)/2 | 11.06 | (10.28)| 11.03| (10.22)| 10.84| 10.62 -----------------+----------+--------+------+--------+------+--------

So far as known there are no larger faces among the Indians than those of the Sioux, yet they remain very perceptibly, in all three measurements, behind the Eskimo. No face as large as that of the Eskimo is known, in fact, from anywhere else in the world. In whites the mean diameter of the largest faces (see data in Martin's Lehrbuch Anthrop., 789-791) does not exceed 10.36 centimeters. The above showing assumes especial weight when it is recalled that both the Siouan and the Algonquian tribes are among the tallest there are on the American Continent. The cause of the large size of the Eskimo face can only be the excessive use of the jaws; no other reason even suggests itself. But the character may already be more or less hereditary. It furnishes another attractive subject for further investigation.

With its large dimensions the face of the Eskimo skull presents generally also large orbits, large molars, submedium prominence and breadth of the nasal bridge, shallow suborbital (canine) fossae, large dental arch above medium teeth, and a large and stout lower jaw with broad not seldom more or less everted angles, giving the whole a characteristic appearance. With partial exception of the orbits and the nose, which are subject also to other factors, all these features of the Eskimo face are explainable as strengthenings resulting from the increased function of mastication.

The main dimensions of the cranial face in the three large groupings of the Eskimo are given in the next table.

WESTERN AND OTHER ESKIMO: FACIAL DIMENSIONS IN THE SKULL

+----------------------------------- | Males +------+------+-------+------------- | | Alve-| Diam- | Cranial | Men- | olar | eter | facial | ton- |point-| bizy- | index |nasion|nasion|gomatic+------+------ | | |maximum| Total| Upper +------+------+-------+------+------ Groups | (9) | (14) | (14) | (8) | (14) Southwestern | | | | | and midwestern| 12.60| 7.87 | 14.25 |_88.2_|_55.3_ Groups | (5) | (7) | (7) | (5) | (7) Northwestern | 12.58| 7.73 | 14.23 |_88.3_|_54.4_ Groups | (5) | (6) | (6) | (5) | (5) North Arctic and| | | | | northeastern | 12.22| 7.69 | 14.32 |_85.9_|_53.7_ ----------------+------+------+-------+------+------

+----------------------------------- | Females +------+------+-------+------------- | | Alve-| Diam- | Cranial | Men- | olar | eter | facial | ton- |point-| bizy- | index |nasion|nasion|gomatic+------+------ | | |maximum| Total| Upper +------+------+-------+------+------ Groups | (8) | (10) | (10) | (8) | (10) Southwestern | | | | | and midwestern| 11.63| 7.29 | 13.27 |_87.7_|_54.9_ Groups | (2) | (7) | (7) | (2) | (7) Northwestern | 11.55| 7.19 | 13.18 |_88.2_|_54.6_ Groups | (3) | (5) | (5) | (3) | (5) North Arctic and| | | | | northeastern | 11.61| 7.13 | 13.15 |_85.7_|_54.2_ ----------------+------+------+-------+-----+-------

These data show a number of interesting conditions. The height of the upper face (alveolar point-nasion) is greatest in the southwestern and midwestern groups, is slightly lower in the northwesterners, and still further slightly lower in the north Arctic and the northeast. On the other hand the facial breadth is slightly higher in the north and east, and that although the vault has become mostly decidedly narrower.

These facts are shown best by the upper facial index, which in the males descends quite perceptibly in the west from the south to the north and in the Arctic from the west to the east. In the females there is a parallel gradual diminution in the upper facial height from the south to the north and then east, but the facial breadth diminishes very slightly also instead of increasing, as a result of which the upper facial index shows only minor differences; yet these differences are in the same direction as those in the males.

These matters are involved with a number of factors--the stature, the breadth of the vault, and the development and direct influence of the temporal muscles, besides hereditary conditions. Their proper study will necessitate even more--in fact, much more--material than is now at our disposal.

The following table gives the distribution of the upper cranial facial index in the various groups. Of the two indices that of the whole face, including the lower jaw, is the less valuable; first, because the jaw is often absent; second, because it is influenced by the height of the lower jaw, which does not correlate perfectly with the upper; and third, on account of the wear of the teeth, which in such people as the Eskimo is very common and diminishes more or less the total height of the face. Its averages in the three main groupings have already been given. Its figures are not very exceptional.

ESKIMO SKULLS: FACIAL INDEX, UPPER

MEAN OF BOTH SEXES IN ASCENDING ORDER

_Southwestern and Midwestern_

(6) Pilot Station, Lower Yukon 53.6 (5) Cape Nome and Port Clarence 54.0 (10) Hooper Bay 54.4 (9) Mumtrak 54.5 (93) Nunivak Island 54.6 (262) St. Lawrence Island 54.9 (8) Togiak and vicinity 55.0 (24) Indian Point (Siberia) 55.1 (23) Nelson Island 55.2 (4) Southwestern Alaska 55.4 (10) St. Michael Island 55.5 (25) Pastolik 55.7 (4) Chukchee 55.8 (11) Little Diomede Island 56.0

_Northwestern_

(190) Point Hope 52.8 (2) Kotzebue 53.7 (17) Shishmaref 54.1 (42) Igloos north of Barrow 54.1 (41) Barrow 54.8 (75) Point Barrow 55.2 (31) Wales 55.4

_Northern and northeastern_

(9) Smith South 51.7 (14) Southampton Island 52.3 (23) Baffin Land and vicinity 53.8 (90) Greenland 54.1 (7) Hudson Bay and vicinity 54.3 (11) Northern Arctic 56.6

The upper facial index of the Eskimo skull is high, though there is considerable group variation. The reason is the height of the upper face, for which the accompanying considerable expansion of the zygomatic arches does not fully compensate. In the white groups this index ranges from approximately _50_ to _54_; it averages _52.9_ in 15 Algonquian and _53.1_ in 12 Siouan tribes. The means in the large Eskimo groupings are from a little below _54_ to a little over _55_. Its regional differences have already been mentioned. Sex differences in the index are very small. There are a number of points of significant agreement, the foremost of which is once more that in the case of Barrow and Point Barrow, and especially that of the Old Igloos near Barrow and Greenland.

THE NOSE

Equally as engaging as the whole face of the Eskimo skull is the cranial nose. Our data throw much light on this feature also.

Where the dimensions of the whole face are altered by some cause the nose can not remain unaffected. This is especially true of its height, which correlates directly and closely with that of the face proper; the correlation of the breadth of the nose with that of the face is weaker and more irregular, but not absent where not counteracted by other factors. Accordingly with the high Eskimo upper face there is found also a high nose, both being the highest known to anthropometry. But the nasal breadth, instead of responding to the considerable facial breadth, has become smaller, until in some of the Eskimo groups it is the smallest of all known human groups. There is plainly another potent factor in action here. This factor could conceivably be connected simply with the above-average growth of the facial bones; but if this were so then individuals with smaller development of these bones ought to have broader noses, and vice versa. This point can readily be tested. Taking the largest and best cranial series, that of St. Lawrence Island, and selecting the skulls with the smallest and the largest faces, the facts come out as follows:

The above data show that while the narrow nose in the Eskimo is to some extent affected by the large development in these people of the facial bones, yet there must be also other factors.

But if not wholly connected with the development of the facial bones, then some of the causes of the narrow nose in the Eskimo must either be inherited from far back or must be due to influences outside the face itself.

Pushing the character far back would be no explanation of its original cause, but it may be shown that such a procedure would not be justified. In the following important table are given the now available data on the breadth of the nasal aperture of the Eskimo, group by group and area by area, and these data show that narrow nose is by no means universal in this family. The nasal aperture is broader in the southwest and midwest than in the northwest, and broader in the latter region than in the Arctic north, and the northeast. In general it is seen that the farther northward and northeastward the narrower the nose, until it reaches beyond that of all other human groups; while in the west and southwest it gradually approaches until it reaches the nasal breadth of the Indian. And that this latter condition is not due to Indian admixture is shown by the fact that among the broadest noses are those of the Eskimo in Siberia and those on the St. Lawrence Island, where there was no known contact with the Indian, while the narrower noses are along the midwestern coast, where Indian admixture might have been possible.

ESKIMO: BREADTH OF THE NASAL APERTURE

BOTH SEXES TAKEN TOGETHER IN DESCENDING ORDER

_Southwestern and midwestern_

(5) Southwestern Alaska 2.50 (31) Indian Point (Siberia) 2.48 (5) Chukchee 2.47 (6) Pilot Station, Lower Yukon 2.45 (280) St. Lawrence Island 2.42 (29) Pastolik 2.41 (13) Hooper Bay 2.39 (10) Mumtrak 2.38 (6) Cape Nome and Port Clarence 2.38 (23) Nelson Island 2.37 (9) Togiak and vicinity 2.36 (4) Yukon Delta 2.34 (107) Nunivak Island 2.33 (11) Little Diomede Island 2.32 (13) St. Michael Island 2.21

_Northwestern_

(3) Kotzebue 2.41 (34) Wales 2.37 (20) Shishmaref 2.36 (56) Barrow 2.35 (211) Point Hope 2.33 (92) Point Barrow 2.30 (48) Igloos, north of Barrow 2.30

_Northern and northeastern_

(9) Smith Sound 2.29 (15) Northern Arctic 2.26 (14) Southampton Island 2.25 (29) Baffin Land and vicinity 2.25 (98) Greenland 2.23 (7) Hudson Bay and vicinity 2.19

It is hardly possible, therefore, to assume that a narrow nose is an _ancient_ inheritance of the Eskimo. From the facts now at hand it seems much more probable that the Eskimo nose or respiratory nasal aperture was not originally very narrow, but that it gradually acquired this character as the people extended farther north and northeastward; and there appears to be but one potent factor that could influence this development and that increases from south to north, namely, cold. A narrowing of the aperture can readily be understood as a protective development for the throat and the organs of respiration.

It is not easy to see how the bony structures respond to the effects of cold or heat, but that they do, particularly where these are aggravated by moisture, has long been appreciated, and shown fairly conclusively through studies on the nasal index by Thomson and later by Thomson and Buxton.[154] An even more satisfactory study would have been that of the nasal breadth alone. Perhaps the normal variation with the elimination of the less fit are the main agencies.

The next two tables show other interesting conditions. The first of these, seen best from the more general data, are the relations of the nasal dimensions and index in the two sexes. The females in all the three large groupings have a higher nasal index than the males. This is a general condition among the Indians as well as in other races. It is usually due to a relative shortness of the female nose. This condition is very plain in the Eskimo. The female nose is actually narrower than the male, due to correlation with shorter stature and lesser facial breadth, yet the index is higher. The reason can most simply be shown by comparing the general mean nasal breadth and height in the two sexes. The breadth in the female is approximately 96.2 per cent of that in the male; the height is only 92.7 per cent.

NASAL DIMENSIONS IN WESTERN AND OTHER ESKIMO CRANIA