164 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO 



modern settled population of Khiva Oasis are in this respect very 

 closely related to the "Sarts" with a tendency toward subbrachy- 

 cephaly. Oshanin states that this brachycephaly is not due to the 

 modern practice of artificial cranial deformation. While occipital 

 flattening, due to the type of cradle, is found among both "Sarts" and 

 "Uzbeks," this type of flattening does not affect the cephalic index 

 to such a high degree. Flattening had been observed equally among 

 dolichocephalic and brachycephalic individuals. Consequently, the 

 brachycephaly of the "Sarts" and "Uzbeks" can be considered to be 

 innate. Al-Mukkadisi also states that dolichocephaly was acquired 

 by Khwarazmians from the surrounding Turkish nomads. Thus, the 

 nomadic Turki tribes of Khwarazm were dolichocephalic. However, 

 we know that the many peoples united by philologists ^^ under the 

 term "Turki" belong to the Mongol group, whose representatives are 

 distinguished by extreme brachycephaly. Turki nomads of modern 

 Turkestan, the Kara-Kirghiz ^^ and the Kirghiz-Karakhs *° are not 

 exempt from this brachycephaly. 



The Turkomans alone are dolichocephalic in predominantly brachy- 

 cephalic Turkestan. 



With which Turki people were the Khwarazmian of the tenth cen- 

 tury in closest relation and with which modern ethnic group of Tur- 

 kestan can they be identified by historians and ethnologists ? 



N. Veselovskii quotes Arabian travelers and geographers who state 

 that the Khwarazmians were in close contact with nomadic Turki. 

 Arabian authors refer to these nomads as "Guzes." 



Yakut writes in his Geographical Dictionary that in the territory 

 adjoining the Turki the contacts between the nomads and the settled 

 peoples were so close that a new language "which was neither 

 Khwarazmian nor Turkish" arose in this area. 



Al-Istakhri observed during the thirteenth century : "Khwarazm is 

 a land distinct from Khurasan and Mawerannahr. On all sides it is 

 surrounded by plains ; at the same time, to the north and the west its 

 boundaries adjoin the lands [ranges] of the Guzes. The Khwaraz- 

 mians are in great danger from the Guzes and are perpetually forced 

 to keep them at bay." 



Al-Masudi states : "Loaded caravans go at all times from Bulgaria 

 to Khwarazm and back. They always have to defend themselves 

 from the nomadic Turki tribes through whose lands lies their route." 



Al-Istakhri, describing the wealth of Khwarazm and the prosperity 



28 Cf. Fischer's Turk Tatarische Stamme. 



39 The Kirghiz proper. (E. P.) 



40 The Kazakhs. (E. P.) 



