Oral Presentations - Session 2A: UC 326
Eastern European Migrations: The Craniometric Perspective
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Randall Skelton
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Anthropology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
The origins of Eastern European populations presents a complex picture of ancestral lineages with many groups sharing different aspects of their culture and genes. The Slavic peoples have contributed much to the Eastern European landscape. Their ancestral homeland of the Slavic peoples remains unknown but has been hypothesized to be one of two places, the Middle Dnieper region of Ukraine or the plains of Poland. This study will test these hypotheses using cranial measurements. There have also been migrations of Asian Steppe peoples who have contributed cultural practices and place names in Eastern Europe. The degree of genetic admixture between the Eastern European peoples and the Asian Steppe peoples has not been resolved, but a common hypothesis is that there was considerable contribution from Asian Steppe gene pools into the populations of Eastern Europe. This study will also test this hypothesis using cranial measurements.
I gathered published data from five Slavic and four Asian steppe populations and tested their relationships using means for six cranial measurements (Maximum Cranial length, Maximum cranial breadth, Zygomatic Breadth, Upper facial height, Orbital height, and Orbital breadth). I used the UPGMA phylogenetic method (statistical cluster analysis) to probe morphological relationships between the nine populations. The results suggest that the Slavic homeland might be the Upper Dnieper region of Western Russia, rather than either Ukraine or Poland. Further, the Slavic Peoples and at least some of the Asian Steppe peoples may be descendants of separate branches of the Scythian peoples of the Bronze Age. The relationship between Asiatic Steppe peoples and Eastern Europeans suggests that while the Steppe peoples have contributed substantial cultural features to Eastern Europe the direction of admixture seems more from Eastern European population into Asiatic Steppe populations.
Eastern European Migrations: The Craniometric Perspective
UC 326
The origins of Eastern European populations presents a complex picture of ancestral lineages with many groups sharing different aspects of their culture and genes. The Slavic peoples have contributed much to the Eastern European landscape. Their ancestral homeland of the Slavic peoples remains unknown but has been hypothesized to be one of two places, the Middle Dnieper region of Ukraine or the plains of Poland. This study will test these hypotheses using cranial measurements. There have also been migrations of Asian Steppe peoples who have contributed cultural practices and place names in Eastern Europe. The degree of genetic admixture between the Eastern European peoples and the Asian Steppe peoples has not been resolved, but a common hypothesis is that there was considerable contribution from Asian Steppe gene pools into the populations of Eastern Europe. This study will also test this hypothesis using cranial measurements.
I gathered published data from five Slavic and four Asian steppe populations and tested their relationships using means for six cranial measurements (Maximum Cranial length, Maximum cranial breadth, Zygomatic Breadth, Upper facial height, Orbital height, and Orbital breadth). I used the UPGMA phylogenetic method (statistical cluster analysis) to probe morphological relationships between the nine populations. The results suggest that the Slavic homeland might be the Upper Dnieper region of Western Russia, rather than either Ukraine or Poland. Further, the Slavic Peoples and at least some of the Asian Steppe peoples may be descendants of separate branches of the Scythian peoples of the Bronze Age. The relationship between Asiatic Steppe peoples and Eastern Europeans suggests that while the Steppe peoples have contributed substantial cultural features to Eastern Europe the direction of admixture seems more from Eastern European population into Asiatic Steppe populations.