146 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO 



smaller than that of Mountain Tajiks, is found in Afghanistan. 

 Turkomans, Persians, and Hindus have smaller breadth than Tajiks. 



Bregma-tragion diameter (M = 127.55) is great; large deviations 

 occur. This height is greater in Darvaz than in Karategin. It is 

 similar to the height of Bukhara and Pskem Tajiks, less than that 

 of Ferghana. 



The head height of Karategin Tajiks approaches that of Central 

 Asian Jews and Shakhrasiab Uzbeks; of southwestern Darvaz, ap- 

 proaches that of Uzbeks, Kirghiz, and Turkomans (lArkho). Hindus 

 (Risley) vary within the same range, being occasionally greater. 



Tsimmerman's ^^ claim that the Tajiks' head height stands on the 

 border between medium and small sizes cannot be accepted, as Bunak's 

 scheme is not applicable in Central Asia; according to this scheme, 

 head height is very high, and not medium, if one compares all the 

 available figures from Central Asia. 



Cephalic index (M = 83.5) is brachycephalic with a tendency toward 

 hyperbrachycephaly ; only a few dolichocephals have been found. The 

 variations are small, the highest being found in southwestern Darvaz 

 where the head form approaches hyperbrachycephaly. Lowest is 

 found in central and eastern Darvaz. The cephalic index of the 

 Mountain Tajiks equals that of Ferghana, Pendzhikent, and Buk- 

 haran Tajiks, and with the population of the western Pamirs (except 

 Ishkashim and Vakhan, where it is higher). 



The cephalic index of Mountain Tajiks (Karategin and south- 

 western Darvaz) approaches that of Kirghiz, Uzbek (except Mangyt) 

 Jews, and Arabs, and differs greatly from that of Turkomans, Persians, 

 Hindus, and some Afghan tribes. 



This similarity of cephalic index of Tajiks with other Central Asian 

 peoples (except Turkomans), even with the highly mongolized 

 Kirghiz, forced Ginzburg to join Oshanin and lArkho in their opinion 

 that in Central Asia absolute measurements of the head permit a better 

 differentiation of racial types than the cephalic indices. 



Height-length index (M = 69.77) agrees with the other characteri- 

 zations of the extremely high head of Mountain Tajiks. Orthocephal- 

 ics are few ; chamaecephalics are practically absent. 



Occipital deformation was found in 69 percent of cases, in Darvaz 

 more frequently than in Karategin. This deformation was usually 

 asymmetrical.^^ Asymmetrical deformity is usually due to the in- 

 fluence of the position of the infant's head in the cradle. 



-"^ Following Bunak's method. 



28 Ginzburg differentiated the naturally flat occiput from the deformed 

 "flattened" occiput. 



