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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 10 



bamboo, massaranduba, itaiiba, mapajo, bibosi, 

 palo santo, ochod, and rubber. Along some of the 

 rivers there are also stands of chuchio (reed), from 

 which the Siriono make their arrow shafts. 



The pampa chiefly supports a grassy vegetation 

 that is able to withstand extremes of wetness 

 and dryness. Rows of palm are sometimes en- 

 countered on the pampa, but more often than not 

 these plains are barren of trees as far as the eye 

 can see. 



PHYSICAL TYPE 



Because of the lack of accurate instruments 

 while I was in the field, I was unable to record 

 exact physical measurements of the Siriono. 

 Roughly speaking, however, it can be said that 

 the men average about 5 feet 4 inches in height; 

 the women, about 5 feet 2 inches. The cephalic 

 index falls within the range of brachycephaly to 

 mesocephaly; the nasal index is definitely platyr- 

 rhine. 



Except in the cases of obvious crosses (the area 

 has not lacked travelers, some of whom may have 

 left their marks) skin color is very dark — almost 

 negroid. The same may be said for the hair, 

 which is not only jet black, but coarse and straight 

 as well. The eyes are a deep brown in color; the 

 Mongolian fold is marked. 



Pilosity is not pronounced but is greater than 

 in most Indian groups. Some of the men have 

 well developed beards, and all have a full growth 

 of pubic hair, with a lesser growth of axillary hair. 

 Women show marked differences with respect to 

 pubic hair; some have heavy growths while others 

 have none at all. 



Head hair is extremely thick on both sexes and 

 grows to a very low line on the forehead. Children 

 are always born with a full head of thick hair, and 



the extension of the hah line to a point very low 

 on the forehead is also very striking at birth. 



Except for a very poor development of the lower 

 legs, the Siriono are well-constructed physical 

 specimens. OntogeneticalJy, they seem to fall 

 within the normal human range. The men dem- 

 onstrate a marked growth of the shoulder muscles 

 as a result of pulling the bow; the women tend 

 strongly to distended abdomens and pendant 

 breasts, especially after childbirth. The protrud- 

 ing stomachs frequently found in children are 

 almost always due to hookworm. 



As a result ol the habit of picking up objects 

 between the big and the second toe, most men 

 and women possess well developed prehensile toes. 

 One rarely sees an Indian retrieve anything from 

 the ground with his hands that he is able to pick 

 up with his feet. 



An unusual physical characteristic among the 

 Siriono, one which might almost be called a mu- 

 tation, is the small hereditary marks which char- 

 acterize the backs of their ears. These marks or 

 depressions in the skin, which appear at birth, 

 look as if a little piece of flesh had been cut out 

 here and there. If a Siriono were in doubt as to 

 whether he were talking to one of his countrymen 

 he would need only to look at the backs of his 

 ears to identify him. These marks do not appear 

 in any of the crosses I have seen. Most of the 

 Indians with whom I talked, however, were only 

 vaguely conscious of this characteristic and had 

 no explanation for it. 



Another unusual feature of the Siriono is the 

 high incidence of clubfootedness. This trait ap- 

 pears in about 15 percent of the population. At 

 some time in Siriono history this recessive char- 

 acter has appeared and persisted because of the 

 highly inbred character of the group. 



HISTORY 



The Siriono are an anomaly in eastern Bolivia. 

 Widely scattered in isolated pockets of forest 

 land, with a culture strikingly backward in con- 

 trast to that of their neighbors, they are probably 

 a remnant of an ancient population that was ex- 

 terminated, absorbed, or engulfed by more civil- 

 ized invaders. Their language, however, is Tu- 

 pian, elsewhere spoken by tribes of a more complex 

 culture, but here represented only by themselves 

 and the Guarayu-Pauserna, whose dialects are 



closely related. Traditions of friendship suggest 

 that these peoples may once have been linked by 

 a now r obscure bond. 



With the rest of their neighbors the Siriono 

 show few affinities, cultural or linguistic. To the 

 north and west live the warlike More, with whom 

 they have had no contact. To the west are settled 

 the Mojo, with whom they likewise have had little 

 intercourse. Only in recent times have they asso- 

 ciated with the Baure and Itonama, who reside to 



