156 ANTHROPOLOGICAL, SURVEY IN ALASKA [HTH. axn, 40 



Skeletal Parts 



There are seven adult skeletons of males and seven of females. For 

 present purposes it will suffice to take the males alone and to restrict 

 consideration to the long bones. The essential data on these are 

 given on page 160, where they are contrasted with those of North 

 American Indians in general, and with those of the western Eskimo. 



The bones show both relations to as well as differences from the 

 bones of Indians in general and fair distinctness from those of the 

 Eskimo. 



Contrasted with the long bones of miscellaneous North American 

 tribes taken together, the Yukon Indian bones show absolutely 

 slightly shorter humerus (or arm), somewhat shorter radius (or 

 forearm), a slightly shorter femur (or upper part of the leg), and 

 a plainly shorter tibia. These Indians had therefore relatively some- 

 what shorter forearm and especially the leg below the knees than their 

 continental cousins. These facts are plainly evident from the radio- 

 humeral and tibio-femoral indices of the two groups. In this rela- 

 tive shortness of the distal parts of the limbs the Yukon Indian ap- 

 proaches the Eskimo, standing near midway between the Indian in 

 general and the Eskimo. There might be a ready temptation to 

 attribute this to a mixture with the Eskimo; but an examination of 

 the records will show that the same condition, so far at least as the 

 upper limb is concerned (lower?), is already present in the old 

 Bonasila skeleton, which gives no suggestion of an Eskimo mixture. 

 It is more likely, therefore, that these are generalized characteristics 

 of functional origin such as a considerable use of the small canoes. 

 This view seems to be supported by the relative strength of the bones. 

 In the Yukon Indian the humerus is stouter, the femur of the same 

 strength, and the tibia very perceptibly weaker than they are in Indi- 

 ans in general. In the Eskimo, with even greater dependence on the 

 canoe, both the humerus and the femur are notably stouter, while 

 the tibia is weaker, than are similar bones in the Indians in general. 



The humero-femoral index in the Yukon Indians is unusually 

 high, indicating a relative shortness of the femur. This character 

 is not present in the Eskimo, nor in the continental Indian. It is 

 probably also of old functional origin, though this for the present 

 must remain a mere suggestion. 



All of this shows clearly the interest and value of other skeletal 

 parts than the skull, and particularly of the long bones, for anthro- 

 pological studies. 



Skeletal Eemains from the Bank at Bonasila 



The skeletal material from the bank at Bonasila consists now of 

 portions of three adult skulls, one male and two females, and of 13 

 bones of the male skeleton. All the specimens are more or less 



