Dr. T. Tóth szerk.: Studia historico-anthropologica (Anthropologia Hungarica 19. Budapest, 1986)

ANTHRO POLOGIA H UN GAR ICA XIX. 1986 P. 11-21 Some main problems in the anthropology of North Caspian Proto-Hungarians By T. TÓTH (Received September 1, 1985) Abstract. A short summary of the results of the paleoanthropological, odontologie and somatologic investigations published during the last five years. With 2 tables and 3 figures. Prolegomena. During the five years which passed after the last International Finno-Ugric Congress, the author of the present paper carried out further comparative analyses for studying the craniometric data of skeletal populations originating from the Uralo-Caspian zone (AKIMOVA 1972; ALEXEYEV 1974; EFIMOVA 1981; TOTH 1983). In the same years the author analysed separately data on the odontologie and main somatologic traits on the basis of data sampled from 28 local (9 ethnogeographic) groups of living Hungarians (TÓTH 1980-1981, 1981, 1982). At the same time the full evaluations of the dermatoglyphic data sampled from the above-mentioned local groups have also been finished (GLADKOVA & TÓTH 1984). The comparative anthropological analysis of skeletal and living populations supplied us with further information concerning the early periods of Hungarian ethnogenesis. MATERIAL AND METHOD Any identification of a part of the skeletal populations originating from the Northern Caspian zone needs first a comparative analysis of the paleoanthropological finds from different millennia. The newly excavated craniological series, found in the forest-steppe zones of the European and Asian parts of the Ural Mountains, along the rivers Volga-Kama-Bielaya as well as the Issiet, Irtues and Ishim, further from the Caucasian and Caspian areas, were investigated. We have to mention some particular localities; Tietiushi, Shipovo, Okhlebinino, Kushulevo, Tsamakaberd, Noraduz (from the Early Iron Age), Biliar (from the Late Iron Age), Altuen-Tepe, Gintshi, Ltshashen (from the Bronze Age) (Table 1). Having included the craniometric data of the above-mentioned finds into the investigations, the author analysed the values of the praeauricular-faciocerebral index as well as those of the facial-flatness index. It is well known that these combined complex indices are well-fitted for any comparative analysis of the proportions of the main taxonomic components (Europoid and Mongoloid) (DEBETS 1961, 1964; TÓTH 1974b). For evaluating the craniometric means we have used DEBETS' classification and for uniting the male and female groups the coefficients of the sexual dimorphism calculated by that author (ALEXEYEV & DEBETS 1964). The combined craniological group of the conquering Hungarians have been compared with 48 skeletal series from the Uralo-Caspian zone (Table 1) using the topography of character-complexes (Fig. 1). The interpretations of the data thus obtained needed the evidence of some méthodologie aspects (TÓTH 1979, 1980). The odontoscopic and somatologic characters are very informative sources within the morphological system of living populations. The present paper contains the evaluation of the