Variation of minor non-metrical cranial variants in Australian Aborigines. Dedicated to Professor Th. Dobzhansky on the occasion of his 70th birthday

✍ Scribed by W. L. Kellock; P. A. Parsons

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1970
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1017 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330320311

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

1254 Australian Aboriginal crania from various parts of Australia were classified for 30 minor non‐metrical variants. Australia was split into various regions, and using statistical methods which give mean overall measures of difference between regions, some regional differences were found. Of the 30 variants used, it was found that 10 of them accounted for about 90% of the variation, and so much of the discussion was restricted to them.

The regional differences in cranial morphology appeared, so far as could be assessed, to culminate in two extreme populations: one in the north and the north‐west of the continent, and the other in southeastern Australia.

The relationship of these findings to the two main theories on the origin and composition of the Aborigines is discussed. The first considers that the Aborigines represent a homogeneous population with no significant regional variation, and the second, that they are a product of hybridization between two or more racial groups. Based on the cranial data given, and other published work, it is considered that, as yet, we have insufficient evidence to favour one of these theories at the expense of the other.