INTERGROUP RANGE OF VARIABILITY OF CRANIOMETRIC FEATURES OF UKRAINIANS IN THE CHERNIHIV-SIVERSHCHYNA REGION (17TH – 19TH CENTURIES, MALES)

Abstract

Large-scale research in human genetics on presumably neutral loci has shown that the vast majority of human diversity is observed among individuals within local populations. Previous distributions of craniometric diversity are similar to these genetic distributions, suggesting a limited role of interregional distinct selective pressures in shaping modern human craniometric diversity. Therefore, it is important to track how cranial variation is distributed. These results are significant for assessing the biological relationships of prehistoric samples that are temporally separated from modern human reference populations. The analysis of intergroup variability of anthropological features provides insight into the degree of morphological differentiation of the population. The ratio of the absolute difference between maximum and minimum feature values to the standard quadratic deviation can serve as a measure in evaluating this variability. However, conducting such analysis by centuries on our available material is impossible due to insufficient craniological series from the studied region. The research objective is to determine the intergroup variability range of craniometric features in the male craniological series from the 17th – 19th centuries from Chernihiv-Sivershchyna. Therefore, when identifying morphological variants among Ukrainians of Chernihiv-Sivershchyna in the 17th – 19th cent., special attention should be paid to facial profiling angles (features reflecting facial skeleton flattening) and height and transverse diameters of the cranial vault. Mongoloid admixture did not manifest itself either in the facial skeleton flattening index, the ratio of facial and cerebral parts in males, or in the calculation of the conventional Mongoloid element overall. A very weak eastern admixture was noted in females, as the general facial skeleton flattening index is slightly higher with a norm up to 20.