Dr. I. Pap szerk.: Studia historico-anthropologica (Anthropologia Hungarica 22. Budapest, 1992)

The peculiar combination of the somatologic, odontologie and dermatoglyphic traits present in the area of the Central Danubian variant may point to the manifestation of some quite ancient substation factors in the ethnogenesis of the Hungarian people. Further wide-ranging analysis of the paleoanthopological material is required to clear these problems. PART II PALEOANTHROPOLOGICAL DATA CHAPTER 1 METHODICAL PROBLEMS AND MATERIAL This chapter is made up of three parts: "The significance of paleoanthropological material for ethnogenetical research", A short review on the paleoanthropology of Hungary", "The paleoanthropological series studied". The mosaicity of the anthropological composition of recent Hungarians was determined by several ethnohistorical events. We also have to take into consideration the fact that not only the dolinas of the greater rivers of the Central Danubian Basin (Danube, Tisza, Dráva, Maros) but the hydrogeographical system of the Carpathian Mountains massive also promoted the wanderings in different historical periods and all these factors contributed to the transmigration of some tribal groups. A number of archaeological finds confirm the fact that the Central Danubian Basin was continuously inhabited from Neolithic times till the Hungarians' settlement in the 10th century. The question of the relation between the massive and gracile components of the Europoid race-stock as observed on the paleoanthropological material seems to be essentially important in this aspect. The problem of the presence of the elements of the Mongoloid great-race in the extérieur of Avars and of ancient Hungarians infiltrating the Central Danube region is of no lesser importance. One of the more significant questions concerning the ethnogenesis of Hungarians is the possibility of selecting some regional paleoanthropological complexes that existed within the Central Danubian Basin in the second millenia. No doubt, the mosaicity reflected in the anthropological composition of recent Hungarians was influenced by some microevolutionary processes. These processes were analyzed on craniological series of historical populations which inhabited the Central Danubian Basin in the past. The very considerable craniological collection of the Anthropological Department of the Budapest University was established as a result of the scientific activity of A Török (1842-1912). This wide-ranging contingent of finds (more than 10.000 crania) mostly dated in centuries not far from our days (18-19th c. A.D.) seems to be only marginally suitable for comparative analysis. The largest contingent of paleoanthropological material is in the possession of the Anthropological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest thanks to the activities of L. Bartucz (1920-1940) and J. Nemeskéri (1940-1965). These craniological series originate with more than 12.000 individuals. Their times-span is wide from the Neolithic to the present. We can find another collection in the Anthropological Department of the Szeged University (more than 7.000 individuals). This material was collected under the direction of L. Bartucz and P. Lipták in the last half century. It must be taken into consideration that the preponderant majority of the various craniological series originating from the periods of the Avar Khaganat and from that of the Arpadian dynasty is strongly connected with the excavation