Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 77. (Budapest 1985)
Pap, I.: Data to the problem of artificial cranial deformation, Part 3.
As far as materials from outside the Carpathian Basin are concerned, I arrived at the following •conclusions: Male series: On the basis of maximum cranial length (M 1), cranial width (M 8), the height/length index (17/1) and forehead angle (M 32), the males of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta are most similar to the Middle and Late Sarmatian Period males originating from the northern part of the Saratov and Volgograd regions, and to the contemporary male group of Volgograd-Astrakhan. They also closely resemble the combined 4th-5th century series of Kanga-Kala and Kunya-Yaz and the 1st century findings of Kenkol, as well as the findings from Talaskaya-Chuskaya dolina. Unfortunately we have only a very limited series of data on basion-antibasion distances of the various series, though these provide some very important piece of imformation on the deformed skulls. We know the deformation indices of a somewhat larger number of cases which can supply some indirect information concerning basion-antibasion distances too. In this aspect the men of KeszthelyFenékpuszta are similar to the series of Kanga-Kala, Kunya-Yaz and Alayskaya dolina. The frontal, parietal and occipital arcs and chords and the convexity indices can fulfil a very significant role when one characterizes and compares the deformed skulls. The more deformed a skull has the larger frontal and occipital convexity indices and the lesser parietal bone index. However, it is to be kept in mind, that the frontal convexity index of considerably deformed skulls can also have a low value because large size and marked eminentia prebregmatica can significantly increase the value of the frontal arc, this way decreasing the index. When comparing these characteristics it was found that our series is especially similar to the combined series of Kanga-Kala and Kunya-Yaz and to the Volgograd-Astrakhan group. The similarity to the series of Byblos also cannot be left out of consideration. Female series: when comparing characteristics 1, 8, 32 and 17/1, the females of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta were most similar to the series of Volgograd-Astrakhan, Kenkol and Byblos. I found myself in a very unfavourable situation as far as the comparison of basion-antibasion distances and deformation indices was concerned. From the very few data available the values of the VolgogradAstrakhan group came the nearest to those of our series. I found the highest degree of similarity to the female groups of Byblos, the Late Sarmatians of Saratov and the findings of Sézegnin when comparing frontal, parietal and occipital arcs and chords. As a summary it can be stated that the male series of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta are the most markedly similar to the Middle (1st century B.C. —beginning of the 2nd century A.D.) and Late (2nd-4th century) Sarmatian period series of the Lower Volga region, Saratov and VolgogradAstrakhan as well as to the 4-5th century A.D. findings of Southern-Turkmenia. The female group shows a larger degree of similarity to the series of Byblos (4th millenium B.C.) and that of Kenkol (1st century A.D.) in Kirghizea and to the Lower Volga region series of Saratov and VolgogradAstrakhan. Discussion The question arises whether intentional head deformation can always be linked to a given ethnic group. Can we consider the existence of this custom as a marker of a certain ethnic unit even when we can discover it only with a part of the population? Is it possible that a certain social stratum was characterized by it or was it only some fashion? If it was some sort of fashion, was it special for a given ethnic group or was it a general custom of the whole population? Does it reflect an ethnic group as some artifacts do reflect some peoples? Does the distribution of cranial deformation according to sexes have any significance in the sense that its presence with one or both sexes could characterize different ethnic groups? Can we detect the gradual spreading of the custom from this? Can we reach any conclusions about the permanent coexistence of various peoples on this basis? What differences do the various types of distortion represent? The skulls dug up and published from the territory of Hungary can be dated to the period between the 4th and the 7th centuries. There have been some attempts to find connections between these and some ethnic groups on the basis of the archaeological findings but it is not possible to link this skulls to certain layers. We cannot arrive at any special conclusions concerning sexual distribution even on the basis of the deformed skulls originating from cemeteries with large numbers of graves,
