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5. ANGULAR MORPHOMETRY OF SKULLS OF THE ABORIGINES OF LOYALTY ISLANDS, MELANESIA

ANGULAR MORPHOMETRY OF SKULLS OF THE ABORIGINES OF LOYALTY ISLANDS, MELANESIA

Sviridov Alexey, Vasilyev Sergey

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Sviridov Alexey, e-mail: sviridovarh@rambler.ru.

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to study a series of 67 crania from Loyalty Islands, Northern Melanesia, housed at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. The main tasks are to reveal specific features of morphogenetic parameters of male and female crania and to calculate primary statistical characteristics. This series was collected mainly in the first half of the 19th century, after the islands had been colonized by the French. Other specimens come from archaeological excavations in the mid-20th century. The series was measured according to the cranio-trigonometric program elaborated by the authors and tested for homogeneity using standard deviations and coefficients of variation. Crania from Loyalty Islands are generally dolichocranic and often higher than wide. The face is relatively low and wide with alveolar prognathism, very wide nose, low orbits, sharp horizontal profile, and flat nasalia. This combination is observed among both males and females. Based on the principal component analysis of the angular parameters of the braincase, we can conclude that males from Lifou and Maré islands are distinguished by sagittaly curved parietal bones. Braincases of females are less variable. When females and males are analyzed simultaneously, their braincase shapes show few differences, though absolute dimensions reveal some sexual dimorphism. In terms of facial angles, males fall into two groups regardless of the islands. Facial skeletons of females are more uniform. Their simultaneous analysis with the principal component method revealed no sexual dimorphism in angular parameters.

Keywords

craniometry, Melanesia, Loyalty Islands

Цит.: Sviridov Alexey, Vasilyev Sergey ANGULAR MORPHOMETRY OF SKULLS OF THE ABORIGINES OF LOYALTY ISLANDS, MELANESIA // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 83-83