Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Fred H. Smith

Committee Members

Richard L. Jantz, William M. Bass, Harold A. Peterson

Abstract

This study presents a broad picture of Native American Indian biological relationships on the basis of anthropometric log size-and-shape and log shape data. It employs a sample of 2946 individuals representing eighty-two tribes distributed culturally and geographically from the Northwest Coast to the Arctic, Subarctic, Great Basin and including California.

The sample was analyzed within a cultural/geographical framework utilizing a variety of multivariate statistical methods: some conventional, some implemented here to elucidate differences among populations due to size synergistic shape and shape variation alone.

The results show strong evidence of morphological size inclusive shape patterning among groups along a south-north gradient. The gradient is primarily drawn by differences in overall body composition and head, face, and nasal form. These differences generally conform to Bergmann's and Allen's rules governing the distribution of phenotypes; larger individuals with less surface area are found farther north, while those who exhibit more linear dimensions are found farther south. The comparison of size and shape versus shape data alone showed that 75 percent of among population variability is due to shape. The examination of size adjusted shape variation revealed that a high degree of homogeneity exists among Northwest Coast males. Furthermore, a high degree of heterogeneity was exhibited by females from all five cultural/spatial areas, suggesting that gene flow and migration played a significant role in this patterning.

Canonical correlations between variables representing variations in environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, humidity and precipitation) and the anthropometric size plus shape measurements revealed that a significant amount of intercorrelation exists between these two data sets. The results isolated on three morphological units; the nasal-index, the cranial- index, and nasal breadth. As such, larger wider noses correlated most strongly with cooler/wetter conditions, and conversely smaller narrow noses were found in warmer/dryer conditions. The cranial-index showed a pattern of variation such that more rounded heads were found in cooler/dryer environments. Finally, nasal breadth most strongly correlated with variations in precipitation and humidity. More narrow noses were found in areas that were predominantly cooler and dryer, and relatively wider noses correlated most highly with warmer/wetter conditions.

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