NO. 13 SOVIET AXTIIROrOLOGY — FIELD 1/9 



a way that the most prominent part of the back of the head protrudes 

 above the knot. Oshanin considers it possible that such a manner of 

 bandaging may operate to elongate the skull by causing the protrusion 

 of the occipital region above tiie bandage. This area of the head of 

 adult Turkomans protrudes very sharply. 



For a final solution of this problem it is necessary to study the 

 morphology of Turkoman crania. As far as Oshanin was able t<i 

 discover, this custom is widespread among other Turkoman people. 

 The following queries arise as to whether : 



1. Dolichocephaly can still be considered a racial (i.e., innate) 

 trait of Turkomans, regardless of their tendency to elongate children's 

 heads by means of artificial cranial deformation. 



2. This custom, of ancient origin, has been practiced by the Scytho- 

 Sarmatian tribes, whom Oshanin is inclined to regard as linguistically 

 Turki/.cd ancestors of the Turkomans. 



3. There are many indications that artificial cranial deformation 

 was practiced in ancient times by any other ancient peoples of Central 

 Asia. 



No. I may be an attempt to perpetuate the ancient dolichocephalic '" 

 type in spite of mestization with brachycephals. The fact that 

 Khwarazm in the tenth century acquired dolichoccphals through 

 mixing with the Guzes, shows that the dolichocephaly of the latter was 

 of a hereditary nature. 



K. Z. lAtsuta ®° describes the artificially deformed crania from 

 South Russia. Together with naturally dolichocephalic crania, 

 obviously artificially deformed °* crania (elongated with a very slant- 



''° Arabs mentioned the dolichocephaly of the Guzes in the tenth century. In 

 modern times Basmachi bandits, who included together with the lomud Turko- 

 mans some Uzbeks, were asked when capturcti during the siege of Khiva in 

 1823, "watermelon or cantaloupe?" If the captive was a "cantaloupe," i.e., long- 

 headed, he was considered to be a Turkoman and dealt with accorthngly. 



*° In Ob iskusstvenno dcformirovannykh chcrepakh na iugovostoke Rossii. 

 Izvestia Donskogo Gos. Universitcta. [No date.l 



'* This "Hippocrates' macrocephaly" has been attributed by various authors 

 to practically every people inhabiting the area near the Sea of .\zov: Sar- 

 matians, Cimmerians, Huns, Avars, Armenians, and "Tatars." Similar crania 

 have also been found beyond the boundaries of the Scj-thian and Sarmatian world, 

 on the Volga near Samara, in many localities of western Europe, and also in 

 Peru, Mexico, and North America. Consequently, the custom of artificial 

 dolichocephaly was practiced by many peoples bearing no relation to the Sc>-tho- 

 Sarmatians. Hippocrates states that the peoples of the Sea of Azov consider 

 dolichocephaly as a mark of nobility and that they used artificial cranial deforma- 

 tion to intensify their dolichocephaly. He also implies that dolichocephaly is 

 inheritable. 



