Abstract

The racial origin of the Australian Aboriginal is still the subject of much controversy, despite the considerable number of studies which have been made over the last 100 years. Past investigations have included many aspects of physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and social anthropology, but different approaches, techniques and interpretations have resulted primarily in two basically opposed hypotheses. These are: (a)The Aboriginal Australians are the descendants of a single basic stock which invaded the virgin continent. Local differences found to-day in the frequencies of some of their physical features are primarily the result of chance variations which became established in semi-isolated populations (cf. Abbie, 1951). (b) Successive waves of immigrants of different basic stock colonized the Australian continent. The frequency variations of certain features found between Aborigines inhabiting the different parts of the Australian continent are closely related to the varying proportions of the contributing stocks in these populations (cf. Birdsell, 1949 and 1950).

The current study deals with the variations in certain metrical features of Aboriginal crania from various parts of coastal New South Wales. With this as a basis, it is hoped to record, analyse and compare cranial data from Aboriginal populations of various other localised areas of Australia in an attempt to test, and possibly help resolve, the differences between the two currently held divergent views.

Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this publication may relate to religious beliefs, death, burial practices or initiation ceremonies and rites; or it may contain images or names of deceased persons or images that may be regarded as unsuitable for children.

 
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Bibliographic Data

Short Form
Freedman, 1964, Rec. Aust. Mus. 26(12): 309–326
Author
L. Freedman
Year
1964
Title
Metrical features of Aboriginal crania from coastal New South Wales, Australia
Serial Title
Records of the Australian Museum
Volume
26
Issue
12
Start Page
309
End Page
326
DOI
10.3853/j.0067-1975.26.1964.680
Language
en
Date Published
04 December 1964
Cover Date
04 December 1964
ISSN (print)
0067-1975
CODEN
RAUMAJ
Publisher
The Australian Museum
Place Published
Sydney, Australia
Subjects
ABORIGINES: AUSTRALIAN; ANATOMY: HUMAN
Digitized
07 April 2009
Available Online
23 July 2009
Reference Number
680
EndNote
680.enw
Title Page
680.pdf
File size: 102kB
Complete Work
680_complete.pdf
File size: 1338kB