144 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I ID 



leptosomic, and 8 percent eurisomic. Unfortunately, the complete 

 account of Vishnevskii's study has not yet been published. 



In 1926 M. I. Gagaeva-Vishnevskaia collected anthropological 

 materials on the women of Central Asia, among them 158 Tajiks. 

 The only published results consist of a brief note by Vishnevskii stating 

 that 20 percent belong to the leptosomic type, 75 percent to the meso- 

 somic, 5 percent to eurisomic. 



In 1927 G. G. Petrov measured 629 Tajiks from Ura-Tiube and 

 Shakhristan regions and from Samarkand and vicinity. On the basis 

 of the blood group distribution he concludes that the Plains Tajiks 

 have been greatly mixed with the neighboring peoples. Petrov has 

 also published a paper on the muscular strength of Tajiks from the 

 vicinity of Ura-Tiube, and some other materials on Tajiks have been 

 published by him. The bulk of his materials remains unpublished. 



A. I. lArkho was in charge of the anthropological work of the 

 Society for the Study of Soviet Asia, from 1928-193 1. In 1929 he 

 studied 200 Tajiks from Khasan (Ferghana region). He thought 

 that the Tajiks were Europeoids, and, admitting that the type Homo 

 sapiens indo-europaeus is not homogeneous in Central Asia, classifies 

 them as the Pamiro-Ferghan subtype. "This is a brachycephalic type, 

 with a short skull, straight forehead, hair development above medium, 

 straight or slightly convex nose. ... It is doubtful whether this 

 type stands alone in the European groups. It is probable that it is 

 connected with the short-headed population of Vorderasien and the 

 non-Armenoid population of the Caucasus." 



lArkho noticed some variations among the tribal and territorial 

 groups. According to him, the mestization between the Europeoid and 

 Mongoloid types in Central Asia has progressed to such an extent 

 that even the most Europeoid and Mongoloid groups are not lacking 

 characters of the opposite type. 



The expeditions led by lArkho have also collected materials bear- 

 ing on the physical development of the populations of Central Asia. 

 Very little of this material has been published. 



Korovnikov, who in 1928 participated in an expedition for the 

 study of endemic goiter in the region of the Vanch River, measured 

 80 individuals who were not greatly afflicted by endocrine disorders. 

 He recorded data bearing on racial and constitutional characters. 

 With Oshanin, Korovnikov classifies the Tajiks of the Vanch area as 

 Homo sapiens indo-europaeus var. brachymorphus (Giufifrida-Rug- 

 gieri) with pronounced traits of the Iranic type. The eastern Iranian 

 type of Vanch mountaineers, classed as Alpines, is the connecting 

 link between the mountaineers of Europe and Asia. 



