Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 77. (Budapest 1985)

Tóth, T.: Some anthropological problems of the Mesolithic Europoids, II.

weight value of the tropical insular Negritos, Andamanese and Nicobarese (Tables 1 and 2). The somatological character of the male and female Marquisians also deserves attention. This Polynese population living in the South-Pacific region does exceed all the abovementioned groups as regards nutrition (Tables 1 and 2). The recent postcranial data of the Ceylonese Veddas differ greatly from the minimum values of the WHO standard, so it can be assumed that these subpopulations which had lived in previous centuries, had suffered from undernutrition. Among the analysed groups in the present study, the female Veddas are characterized by the smallest body weight (39.3 kg!)

—but perhaps this low value is due to the small number of studied individuals (Table 2). Nevertheless, the validity of these data can be accepted if one takes into consideration the mean body weight value of the male Mappia-Papua group (38.4 kg!) (JANSEN 1963 after KLEVTSOVA 1983). It seems worthy of mention that in the contingent studied by us one of the smallest statures found is the recent female skeletal population from Luzon (143.4 cm) (Table 2). The mean value of the stature from the African Mbuti male seems to be very similar (144.0 cm) (HIERNAUX 1968 after KLEVTSOVA 1983). In connection with the above said, we have to mention that the "normal" body weight did not reflect in every case the osteopathological condition as well as the local socioeconomical circumstances of a given prehistoric population. DEBETS (1967) himself pointed out the fact that stature and body weight are not in every case connected only with the living conditions. As it can be seen from the data presented in this paper, the Mesolithic male and female subpopulation from Taforalt may be regarded as relatively well-nourished (similarly to the abovementioned groups of the Neolithic Nea Nikomedeia), although many of the individuals of this prehistoric North-African group suffered from sacrum bifidum, a special developmental abnormality of the skeleton (FEREMBACH 1963). In the WHO assessment about the nutritional status of the communities inhabiting the developing regions, there are references to the relevant infections of the populations in tropical zone: bacterial (for example, tuberculosis, diarrhoe disease), viral (measles), parasitic (malaria) and intestinal helminthic (ancylostomiasis, ascariasis) symptoms (JELLIFFE 1966). In connection with the somatological-ecological circumstances of the Ceylonese Veddas, HILL (1941) refers to calcium-deficiency which seems to be associated with osteoporosis and malaria as well as framboesia. All of these infections may also be connected with an insufficient level of feeding hygiene. Similar phenomena can be assumed for the prehistoric populations. No doubt the Mesolithic and Neolithic inhabitants of the east Baltic suffered from osteomyelitis, bonetuberculosis and rhachitis (DERUMS 1978). All of these symptoms can also be observed in the osteological remains of the other subcontinents (ROKHLIN 1965). In addition to these, we have to mention the cases of fractures, the absence of post-traumatic ossification, the cases of degenerative osteoarthritis in different parts of the skeleton, all of which occurred partly as functional lesions in Mesolithic huntergatherer communities as well as in Neolithic farming peoples (ANGEL 1973, DASTUGUE 1970, NIELSEN & ALEXANDERSEN 1964). Generally it is the paleopathological analysis which enables us to approximately reconstruct the living conditions and the socio-economical relations of the given prehistoric populations. On the other hand, it can be assumed that among the numerous pathological factors of the paleo-ecology, there was seasonal starvation and vitamin deficiency as well as the consumption of unwashed fruits (GRIMM 1979). To elucidate the central problems of the subject of this study, we have to include retrospectively the recent osteological and living groups. The paleosomatological reconstruction of prehistoric skeletal populations has been made possible to a great extent by the somatological parallelism of the living populations. Having in mind the degree of obligatory caution on osteoanthropological evaluation of small series, the mentioned parallelism stimulates the adequacy of the interpretations. In the present paper only