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

G. F. Debets (1962, 1964, 1968) elaborated a method for the calculation of the praeauricularfaciocerebral index in the comparative analysis of the measurements of the facial skeleton and the braincase. The denominator consists of the sum of three measurements of the four parts of the brain-case (length of basicranium, smallest width of forehead and basion-bregma height), whereas its numerator consists of the sum of three measurements of the splanchnocranium (base length of the face, bizygomatic diameter and height of the upper face). The combined facial flatness index and the praeauricular-faciocerebral index expresses the topographical coordination of given craniological series - that is the trends of epochal changes can be followed. The indices mentioned were determined by the author of this dissertation for 134 craniological series from the territory of the Soviet Union and Iran as well as for 53 series from Hungary. The topographical disposition of the anthropological finds of tenth century Hungarians invading the Central Danubian basin deserves special attention. The closest to them is the material of the Andronovo culture excavated in Eastern and Central Kazakhstan. On the other hand, they present a significant deviation from the Late Bronze Age cranial series of the Middle-Ob region. The group of Conquering Hungarians is much more similar to the Sauromats and Sarmatians of the Lower Volga region than to the series excavated from the cemeteries of Bolshe-Tarhan or the ones from the Kama basin (Pianobor, Mazunino and Lomovatovo cultures) as well as to those of Bashkiria (Biktimirovo, Kamueshluetamak cemeteries). On the other hand the Conquering Hungarians are closer to the Sauromats and Sarmatians of the Lower Volga mentioned above than to the craniological series of the Scythians inhabiting the steppe and forest steppe regions of the Ukraine. The summarized group of 10th century Hungarians can be clearly separated from all finds originating in the Transdanubia of the Roman period as well as from the Sarmatian finds from the Central Danubian region. The craniological series of the Tshernigov and Pereyaslav Polians are much more similar to that of tenth century Hungarians than to certain groups of the ancient population within the territory of present Bulgaria. Nevertheless this proximity is not that expressed as the one between the series of Conquering Hungarians and Sauromato-Sarmatians. Sauromato-Sarmatians supposedly played the part of substrates in the formation of the main morphological peculiarities of the precursor of the Hungarian people. The representative series of Conquering Hungarians reflected a great distance not only from the craniological material originating from the Ananinoians of the Lugovo cemetery (Cis-Ural) but from the combined Early and Late Iron age series excavated in the Trans-Ural region (Kurgan district and Middle-Ob region). The group of the precursors of recent Hungarians (as it is visible in the correlation field) was similar not to the nomads but to the series of the Sarkel great kurgan. Tenth century Hungarians were dissimilar to the craniological series of recent Kazakh, Uzbegs, West-Siberian Ugors, Tshuvash, Bashkirs and Eastern Finns but we found similarities to the representative series of recent Ossels from the Northern Caucasus. This sort of correlative relationship confirms the significance of the common Sauromato-Sarmatian substrata, which had a decisive role in the genesis of the anthropological features of Medieval Hungarians as well as in that of contemporary Ossets. We coordinated the preauricular-faciocerebral index with the facial flatness index. These indices could be calculated for a wide craniological contingent of the Avar period (1248 crania) excavated on 33 sites of the Central Danubian Plain. This way valuable information can be obtained on the main trends of intraspecific epochal changes. This information made regional correlations among various groups of a certain historical population quite expressed. All the representative Avar period series bear Europoid characters with strongly profilized faces and with relieves gracilized to different degrees. The finds of Mosonszentjános and Budapest-Népstadion (both are sites of small sample size) are comparatively close to the summarized series of the Mongoloid racial-stock. The most Mongoloid-like is the Avar series of Kiskörös-Vágóhíd (with small sample size) from all the Avar series. The topographical proximity of the finds of the cemeteries of Alattyán and Homokmégy-Halom, Kiskőrös-Város alatti and Üllő II, Jánoshida and Dunaszekcső, Előszállás and Ártánd, Szenteskaján and Tiszaderzs, Szellő and Bágyog-Gyürhegy, Szebény I and Csákberény, Csákberény and Kiskőrös-Város alatti, Üllő II and Dunaszekcső furnish convincing information on the strong dominance of the Europoid peculiarities within the wide masses of the population of the Avar khaganat. The Europoid component also