Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 35/1-2. (Győr, 1997)

Tanulmányok - Henkey Gyula: Ethnical-Anthropological Features of Hungarians from the Rabaköz Region

mirian) transitional variant is fairly frequent. (Fig. 10-13) Among those classified as Pamirians, the Pamiro-Turanid transitional variant (Fig. 14-16) is more common, but the percentage of sharp-featured Pamirians (Fig. 17-19) is also above the Hungarian average. Figs. 20-21 demonstrate the Caspian variety of the East Mediterranean type, in Figs. 22-23 the East Dinaroid variety (called Caucasian by Georgian anthropologists) and in Fig. 24 a form close to the Dinaroid variety of the Balkan is displayed. The occurrence of the Pontus variety of the East Mediterranean type can also be considered significant. The mean frequency of the East Dinaroid variety is 5,6 %, that of the Balkan Dinaroid is 3,0 %. Nevertheless, if the Balkan Dinaroid type interbreeds with Turanid, Pamirian types or with that of Asia Minor, the resulting formcan be similar to East Dinaroid, therefore the questionable cases were divided in equal proportion between both varieties. The examination of the Rábaköz is especially important, if we want to study the anthropological characteristics of the Hungarians of Pecheneg origin and of the Kabar clans of the conquering Hungarians. On the territoties where Pechenegs settled down during the 10-1 3th centuries, Turanid and Pamirian are the two most common types, the frequency of these East Mediterraneans exceeds the Hungarian average of 4,1 %. Within this percentage the Caspian variety, typical of the Turkmenians of Oguz origin is predominant. The three Kabar tribes which joined the conquering Hungarians consisted of Oguz, Alan (Sarmatian), Khorezmian and Bulgarian-Turk layers. The Alan layer can be distinguished well, since among them the East Dinaroid (Caucasian) variety is frequent. On the other hand, it is not so important to separate the anthropological characteristics of the two Turk and the Khorezmian layers from that of the Pechenegs, since five out of eight Pecheneg tribes was interbred with Sarmatians, the language of the Khorezmians was Alan mixed Pecheneg, and among the Kabars there was an Oguz layer as well. The Székely-Hungarian populations of Transylvania, who were originally guards of the borderland have several common features with the people of the Rábaköz region, the most common types occur in the following order of frequency: Turanid, Pamirian, East Mediterranean. The proportion of the latter is between 9.6 and 14.5 % (The frequency of the Pontus variety approximates that of the Caspian one.) The defence of the frontiers of historic Hungary was to a great extent the duty of the Kabars, Székelys and Pechenegs, but the eastern elements which were assimilated to Hungarian population were dispersed by the Osmanli-Turkish occupation, while the Kabar border-guards in the Tátra mountains were absorbed by the Slovaks. The population of the Rábaköz district is characterized, on the basis of the data of 33389 people belonging Hungarian and other ethnic groups examined by the author - similarly to the majority of autochthonous Hungarian population - by features common also among the Turk people of the steppe and among the Sarmatians. Among some parts of the population defending the border, the frequency of the Caspian and Pontian varieties outnumber the Hungarian average. This means that the mean width of the head and that of the zygomatic arch is smaller and that applies to the population of the Rábaköz too. Among certain parts of the population, East Dinaroid (Caucasian) forms also exert an influence on the ethnic (anthropological) features. The Uralian type, however, characteristic of the Voguls and the Ostjaks amounts only to 0.1-0.2 %, Finno-Ugrian forms altogether figure out 3.1 % of the people of the Rábaköz and 4.6 % of the 31 186 Hungarians examined. The characteristic features which were common among the ancient Slavs (Northern, Cromagnoid and East Baltic Slav forms) can be found in a proportion of only 0.75 % in the ARRABONA 35/1-2.