Abstract
ANTHROPOMETRY OF THE ABORIGINES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—Dr. T. D. Campbell and Dr. Aubrey J. Lewis have published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia for 1926 observations on 28 aborigines (11 males and 17 females) from the camp at Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain. Most of them belong to the Alinjera group, a few to the Willoorara group. Individual measurements are given, the mean values working out as follows: Stature, 1593.4; cranial length, 187; cranial breadth, 135; nose height, 43.2; nose breadth, 44.8. The means of the indices are: Cephalic, 72.2; facial, 81.7; nasal, 104.6; ear, 53.1; radio-humeral, 81.5. The figures are compared throughout with those collected by Prof. Wood-Jones and Dr. Campbell on varying numbers of individuals, in one case—stature —more than three hundred, and are found to approximate to them fairly closely. They go to confirm the assertion that the aborigine of Central Australia belongs to a pure stock with well-defined and constant physical characters. He is dolichocephalic, platyrhinic, and dolichokerkid, the breadth of his ear is about half its length, while as to his jaw, the mean index is fairly constant though there is considerable individual variation.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Research Items. Nature 119, 138–140 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119138a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119138a0