Abstract
Da. ALES HBDLICLA, it is reported by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., in the course of excavations on the Aleutian Islands, has brought to light a skull of remarkable size. Its cubic capacity is said to be no less than 2,005 c.c. This is the second highest skull capacity recorded, the largest being that of Turgenev, the Russian novelist, whose skull has a capacity of 2,030 c.c. Skulls of known capacity ranking next are those of Daniel Webster, 2,000 c.c, Bismarck, 1,965 c.c, La Fontaine, 1,950 c.c, Beethoven, 1,750 c.c. and Kant, 1, 740 c.c. The enormous, but imperfect, South African Boskop skull, according to one estimate, has been rated at 1,950 c.c.; but a more conservative figure places it round about 1,700 c.c. Dr. Hrdlicka's excavations on the Aleutian Islands, in the course of which the present find was made, are in continuation of a series of investigations of the archaeology and physical anthropology of the present and former inhabitants of Alaska and the adjacent islands, upon which he has been engaged on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution for successive seasons during a number of years. His object is to elucidate the racial affinities and chronological succession of the early peoples who migrated from north-eastern Asia to populate America. On this problem, unfortunately, his latest discovery, apart from the probability that it is no more than an individual instance of abnormal development, would appear to throw no certain light, owing to the absence of the facial skeleton.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aleutian Islands' Skull of Abnormal Size. Nature 138, 613 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138613c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138613c0