Cranial Morphology of Several Ethnic Groups from the Amur Basin and Sakhalin

Abstract

Metric and nonmetric characteristics of seven cranial series of recent and prehistoric populations from the Amur basin and Sakhalin were investigated. The Amur groups which Soviet anthropologists have defined as the Baikal type resemble one another. The Nivkh does not have its own peculiar physical characteristics in terms of cranial morphology. Metric analysis showed that the Troitskoe is separated from the recent Amur groups. Metric and nonmetric analyses revealed that the Sakhalin Ainu is isolated from other Mongoloid groups, as already mentioned by many researchers.