A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 15-17. - 1972-1974 (Nyíregyháza, 1982)

Szathmáry László: Magyarország honfoglalás kori népességének termete

The Stature of the Population in the Territory of Hungary at the Time of Hungarian Conquest [10th-century] (Summary) My study deals with the problems of the stature of the population in the territory of Hungary in the 10th century (at the time of conquest). The reconstructed data on stature gained through the consistent application of a homogeneous methodology provide new possibilites to the complex treatment of the ethnogenetic questions of Magyar conquerors. The investigation has critically analysed the methods for determining stature that have so far been used in anthropological research pointing out which of the methods yield the most reliable estimation. It was essential throughout the whole investigation to take stock of the archeologicul and anthropological conditions, and to systematize the findings. The need for critical control-examination can hardly be proved better than by the fact that the related paleoanthropological researohes applying different methods have determined stature and published findings with many sources of error. The mentioned heterogeneity, the shortcomings of the former investigations with limited aims and the important false data that can be found in professional literature made synthetic investigations necessary. THE FINDINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. Of the critically analysed methods for the determination of stature I adopted Breitinger's (1938) with males and Bach's (1965) with females and I determined individual stature data from the maximum length of the femur and the humerus and in the cases of groups of finds from the average of stature. Determined in this way, the average of stature with all series exceeds all the average stature data based on earlier investigations. According to archeological conditions, the males' stature average of 168.89 centimeters for the 10th century is proved by the new determinations, which figure equals a stature 5.25 centimeters taller compared to the result of the so far single comprehensive evaluation (Bartucz 1938) where the average for males was 163.64 centimeters. In the case of females this difference is even more pronounced, for the new average, 161.34 centimeters, is 8.76 centimeters taller than Bartucz' s (1938) average of 152.50 centimeters. It follows from the aforesaid that the determinations concerning the stature of the 10 th-century population require essential modification. 2. Taking Martin's classification (1928) as a basis, the distribution of the 10thcentury population as to the categories of stature shows the dominance of the tallstatured, which is more surprising in the case of women where more than 80 percent of the persons investigated fell under this category. As to the results, they also contradict those of Bartucz (1938) achieved from investigations of a population of 198