National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

HUMAN REMAINS PROM THE NORTH KURGAN.   455

length according to Bumüller, the index is 21.8 right and 21.3 left, therefore tolerably near the mean value found by the above author.

The torsion measured between the collum axis and the condyle tangent amounts to right 26° and left 28°. These are high values, as high as those observed by Martin in Senoi (1905, p. 625). European femora have, according to Martin's determinations, in the mean a torsion of only about 8°.

Of the two tibiæ the right one is almost wholly preserved; of the left one, on the other hand, there is only the upper end, which is very defective in the right one. This makes it possible to reconstruct the right tibia, so that the measurements of length can be determined closely within a few millimeters. There can be very little doubt that the two tibi belong to one individual; not only do the measurements agree well, but the more delicate features, such as the form of the tuberosities, etc., are almost as if reflected in the mirror.

The tibia also shows a series of indications that refer it to an inferior race. Thus one is at once struck by the considerable lateral flattening of the upper and middle part of the diaphysis, which one is used to designate as platycnemy, and by a decided curvature of the shaft toward the front (plate 95, fig. 5). These two features stand, as Manouvrier has shown, in a certain relation, and indeed so that platycnemy is found more often on tibiæ with forward convexity than on straight ones. Manouvrier (1888, p. 497) has traced both of these peculiarities to one and the same origin, the powerful function of the lower part of the leg under severe exertion in walking and running, as it is brought into play especially among primitive hunting peoples. According to his view, platycnemism is caused by the constant work of the musculus tibialis posticus, which has to keep the lower limb upright, while the curvature toward the front is caused by the pressure working under similar circumstances with a tendency toward fracture, a strain which recurs at every step, especially in going downhill.

As regards the two mentioned features, it is clear from the investigations of Manouvrier and other authors, that such flattening of the tibia is found especially among peoples of the lower stage of civilization. Platycnemy occurs, it is true, occasionally everywhere, even among modern Europeans, but it occurs here much more rarely and to a lesser degree than among peoples living in a so-called state of nature, where it is in places the rule. But not among all : the Negroes, for instance, form an exception.

Trochanter length (a).

Epicondyle width (b).

Index, a : b.

Spy I, right   

Neandertal, right   

Neandertal, left   

Japanese   

Anau I, right   

Anau I, left   

Senoi, male, right and left   

Senoi, female, right and left   

Malays   

Wedda   

Negrito   

about 410

423 425 390 447 452 366.5

367.5

410

425

390

90

87

87

78

88 87 69 66 76

78 7o

455 486 488 500 508 519 530 556 539 545 556