NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY — FIELD 13 



tlieir type, such an assumption is out of the question regarding the 

 more noriaern Siberian groups. Among the latter, in some districts 

 there is a defmite aquihne nose somewhat resembhng that of the North 

 American Indian. Is this type the result of actual genetical relati(jns, 

 however remote? Is this Siberian aquiline nose peculiar to an indc- 

 l^endent group? Is the aquiline nose merely a secondary trait which 

 arose through the convergent development of separate, isolated 

 groups? These problems may be solved within the next few years. 



Much new anthropological information has been obtained about 

 the peoples of Central Asia, especially through the crani(jlogical study 

 of medieval and older ethnic groups by V. V. Ginzburg, L. \ . 

 Oshanin, and others. More and more facts indicate that the dolicho- 

 cephalic clement of European appearance is widespread in Central 

 Asia and that modern anthropological variations, among which the 

 brachycephalic element is prevalent, are of later formation. 



In the Caucasus anthropological research has been conducted for 

 several years, as a result of which a great deal of comparative 

 material * has been obtained. Most of this extensive country has licen 

 investigated by districts, with the exception of certain regions in 

 Uaghestan and in the most mountainous regions of Cieorgia. The 

 drawing of anthropological maps of the Caucasus is one of the few 

 experiments made in anthropological analysis by districts based upon 

 systematic observations made by groups of research workers. A 

 summary of these data will be published in a special collection about 

 tlie Caucasus, now being prepared for press by the Institute of 

 Anthropology and Ethnography (lAE) of the Academy of Sciences. 



New materials have corrected and complemented former views con- 

 cerning anthropological types in the Caucasus. The existence of the 

 mesocephalic, long-faced type with a straight nose, dark hair, often 

 with blue or gray eyes, has been established in the northwestern 

 Caucasus. This type is to be found among the Cherkcss ( Circassian )- 

 Kabardinian peoples in the Kuban region and is clearly a variation 

 of the so-called Pontic race. Morphological and historical data estab- 

 lished the unity of the Kuban variation of the Pontic race with lower 

 Danube types in Bulgaria, ancient types in present-day southern 

 Russia, and others. In ancient times the above-described type was 

 very widespread and predominated in what is now western Georgia. 



In southeastern Transcaucasia there is another, also mesocephalic 

 type, but it differs from the first in several respects. This type is to be 

 found among Azerbaidzhanis, among a small group called the Tats 



* Cf. my forthcoming Contributions to the .Xnthropology of the Caucasus. 

 (H. F.) 



