NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY — FIELD 235 



ORIGIN OF THE MONGOL 



Roginskii ^" begins liis study of the origin of the Mongol by giving 

 a brief review of the Htcrature. 



In 1927 Ilrdhcka'^'^ expressed the supposition that modern man 

 originated in the Neanderthal type. Later, Bartucz "^ pointed out the 

 remarkable similarity between the skeletal type from the Hun burials 

 of the fourth and fifth centuries and the dolichocephalic variety of the 

 Tungus, on the one hand, and Neanderthal man, on the other. More 

 recently, W'eidenrcich •"- stated the opinion that Sinanthropus pos- 

 sessed certain Mongoloid traits. 



In an attempt to solve these problems, Roginskii " studied anthro- 

 pometric data on the dolichocephalic peoples of Siberia, particularly 

 the Tungus. In tiie Anthropological Institute of the University of 

 Moscow he examined the mandibles and teeth of the Ulchi crania 

 (cf. M. G. Levin) collected by A. M. Zolotarev in the Amur region 

 in 1936, and of the Ostiak crania collected by D. T. lAnovich near 

 Obdorsk in 191 1, He also made a study of the geographic localization 

 of some of the Mongol characters in eastern Asia and of the intra- 

 group correlations between them. As a result he came to the following 

 conclusions concerning the origin of the Mongol type. 



A comparison of physical characters of modern Mongoloid peoples 

 in Siberia with those of Homo ncandcrthalensis revealed such differ- 

 ences as absence of the torus superciliaris, general weakness of the 

 supraorbital crest, small dimensions of the molar pulp, and develop- 

 ment of the chin. On the other hand, modern Mongols were found to 

 resemble the Neanderthal type in their retreating forelicad, very high 

 mean height index, a slight development of the fossa canina, and large 

 dimensions of the mandible. 



Archeological evidence from the Neolithic and later periods indi- 

 cates that the geographic area inhabited by the Mongol race was 

 considerably smaller than it is today. 



*" Roginskii, I.\., Problcma proiskhozhdeniia mongolskogo rasovogo tipa 

 [The problem of tlic origin of the Mongol racial type). AZH, No. 2, pp. 43-64, 

 1937. 



•° Hrdlicka, .Mcs, in Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst, for 1928. 



"' Bartucz, I.ajos, Moson Szcnt Janos, Seminar. Kondakovianum, Prague, 

 1929. 



"^W'eidenrcich, Franz, Peking Natural History Bulletin, vol. 10, pt. 4. 1936. 



"' Roginskii, lA., Matcrialy po antropologii tungusov scvernogo Pribaikalia 

 [Materials for tlic anthropology of the Tungus of Uic northern Baikal areal. 

 AZH, No. 3, 1934- 



