Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 80. (Budapest 1988)
Gladkova, T. D. ; Tóth, T.: Ethnic dermatoglyphics of Hungarians
grouping there are Caucasian groups —Andiicis (No. 6), Ossets (No. 3) and Ginuchcis (No. 7). These dermatoglyphical pecularities are in agreement with data from ethnic odontology. Concerning the two odontomorphologic patterns (shovel-shapedness of the upper medial permanent incisors and the presence of the distal trigonid crest on the first lower molar) from the 9 ethnogeographical groups of Hungarian males are very close not only to the Eastern Finns, but to some Central Asian and Caucasian groups as well (TÓTH 1986). Summing up we may state that the dermatoglyphical traits of Hungarian groups are within the range of variation Caucasoid peoples. Let us now see whether these data agree with the anthropological type of Hungarian males and its origin. It is well-known that migrations during the epoch of the Great Migration of Peoples (TÓTH 1968, 1970; TÓTH & FIRSHTEIN 1970) played an important role in the ethnic history of the Hungarians. In the fourth century A. D., tribes of Turkish-speaking Huns reached the banks of the Danube river. As they drifted westward, they brought with them peoples from the steppes of the Volga and the Ural, as well as from the Ukraine. Among these tribes were groups of Sarmatians who spoke Persian. The Turkish-speaking tribes of nomadic Avars came to the Danube steppes in the sixth century A. D. and established an Avarian state in the Carpathian Basin. In the second half of the ninth century some Magyar (Hungarian) tribes migrated to the territory of the Danube Basin from their homeland somewhere in the southern Preurals. Material already collected has helped to reveal the Finno-Ugric origin of the Hungarian language and people. According to this hypothesis, the Hungarian people has common linguistic roots with the west Siberian Ugrians (Khants and Mansi), who are related to the Ural peoples of mixed Caucasian and Mongolian components. According to TÓTH (1968, 1970; TÓTH & FIRSHTEIN 1970), however, despite the Hungarians linguistic kinship with the west Siberian Ugrians, the osteological material of the ancient (tenth century A. D.) Hungarians from the central Danube Region reveal their similarity not to the peoples of the Kama and Belaya rivers but to the Sarmatians from the lower Volga region, the Ukraine, and the southern Preural area. In other words, these Hungarians already had a Caucasian character when they appeared in the territory of Hungary. According to TÓTH, the process of formation of the morphological pecularities of the proto-Hungarians was carried out over a vast territory extending from the northwestern Precaspian region to the Prearals. For a long time, ancient Ugrian groups from the Preurals entered this territory and established linguistic and anthropological contacts with Indo-Persian groups. It is believed that the Avars, among whom were also some Sarmatian tribes, played a significant role in the formation of the population that preceded the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. Later, in the thirteenth century, the Turkish-speaking Kipchak tribes, fleeing the Mongol invasion, settled down along the middle reaches of the Tisza river, as did a Persian-speaking group of Yassians, a branch of Alans closely related to the Osetians of the Caucasus (NÉMETH 1960). According to the anthropological data, not only is the modern population of Hungary related to the Caucasian race, but so were the ancient Hungarians who arrived in the area of the Danube Basin in the tenth century. The groups here studied are distinguished dermatoglyphically by their "Caucasian" pecularities. They differ from Madzhars, Kazakhs and Khants. Thus, dermatoglyphical, somatological and odontological data confirm the prevalence of different components of the European race stock in the mosaic composition of Hungarian male population.
