Abstract
ANTHROPOMETRY IN CENTRAL ATJSTRALIA.—A first instalment of the results of the University of Adelaide ExpeditimVentral to Central Australia at the beginning of 1927, which appear in Vol. 1 of the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, gives a general intUuctory account of the expedition and its method of working, and deals more specifically with the results of the anthropometric observations by Dr. T. D. Campbell and Mr. C. S. Hackett. Two halts were made, one at Ross Waterhole, 40 miles north- east of Oodnadatta, and one at Stuart Town, Alice Springs. The natives observed were Arunta with a few Luritcha, numbering 57 in all, 44 male and 13 female, and with a few exceptions all were full blooded. In addition to the anthropometric measurements, a number of investigations were carried out, including a study of aboriginal songs, and the expedition was fortunate in obtaining a kinematograph film of a circumcision ceremony as well as other films of technological interest. A striking method of boo- motion involved in an extreme case of platycnemia provided a film of exceptional interest. The means of the anthropometric measurements given are: stature 11330 mm, head length 1896 mm., head breadth 142 mm., nose height 52.1 mm., and nose breadth 48.6 mm. Cephalic index 74.7, facial index 8.13, nasal index 93 mm. It is to be noted that the head is slightly broader than that of other records. The larger size of the nose is probably due to the greater preponderance of males. Comparing these results with other records by various workers, it is now possible to give a generalised picture of the Australian as a dolichocephalic, platyrhine with pronounced supra-orbital ridges and protruding lips, in colour dark brown, with low to deep waves on the hair, which is occasionally curly but never frizzy.
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Research Items. Nature 120, 930–932 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120930a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120930a0