364 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



individuals mentioned above — all of the midshaft indices range 

 between 45 and 55 percent — a range unusually low even for American 

 Indians. This is in distinct contrast to the Clarksville male tibiae, 

 where with one exception (USNM 380847, an older person), the mid- 

 shaft index ranges from 57 to 69 percent. The Tollifero tibiae are 

 both narrower transversely and thicker anteroposteriorly than those of 

 the Clarksville Series, so that the difference in shaft index cannot be 

 attributed to anteroposterior thickening or to the marked anteropos- 

 terior bowing which many of them show. The tibiae of the only 

 Tollifero female in which midshaft indices are obtainable are rounder, 

 falling within the ranges for the Clarksville Series. 



Platycnemia or tibial flattening has been a subject of controversy 

 and speculation since Manouvrier (1888) compared the shapes of 

 human and anthropoid tibial shafts (cf. Angel, 1946, pp. 76-80). It 

 has been attributed, among other things, to subnutrition, squatting, 

 "morphological inferiority," and mountain climbing, each theory hav- 

 ing nearly as many opponents as proponents. Considering the dates 

 of these series, "morphological inferiority" (Oetteking, 1930) — that is, 

 an affinity to the anthropoid — does not seem a suitable explanation for 

 the flatness of the Tollifero tibiae, though it may be appropriate in 

 other cases. Functional and/or dietary explanations are much more 

 likely to be correct. 



Of the functional "causes" of platycnemia, the muscular stresses 

 of squatting are among those most frequently invoked, although other 

 postures also involve hyperflexion of the tibiae. Modern Westerners 

 rarely squat, usually assuming some other posture when they sit on 

 the floor or on the ground (perhaps this partially explains why they 

 are more conscious of muscular stresses in squatting than in other 

 postures) ; and it is unlikely that the earliest European explorers 

 behaved much differently, particularly if they were of the upper 

 classes and accustomed to sitting on chairs of some sort. One would 

 expect, then, that they would record unfamiliar customs of sitting 

 as meticulously as they recorded other unfamiliar things — ornaments, 

 clothing, styles of cutting the hair, and so forth. Nevertheless, al- 

 though White and other early artists (cf. Lorant, 1946) show the 

 Southeastern Indians sitting on the ground in various positions, only 

 a few individuals, participating in ceremonies, are shown squatting 

 with the thighs pressed against the calves of the legs. This is scant 

 evidence for drawing conclusions regarding their habits, but it does 

 suggest that squatting may not have been customary, even among the 

 Clarksville people. The higher incidence of shin injuries, which will 

 be discussed later, may bear this out. The Tollifero people, on the 

 other hand, may have been squatters. However, as Hewes (1955) has 

 pointed out, there are numerous ways of squatting ; and, one may add. 



