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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Physical Anthropology and the Reconstruction of Recent Precolonial History in Africa, II: A Dermatoglyphic Survey from Kenya |
Author: | Rosa, Peter |
Year: | 1987 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 14 |
Pages: | 229-256 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Kenya |
Subjects: | physical anthropology historiography Anthropology and Archaeology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171839 |
Abstract: | In volume 12 of this journal the author discussed the potential of physical anthropolgy for the reconstruction of precolonial history in Africa. In this sequel the onus is on trying to demonstrate in a limited way some of these possibilities through an empirical study. The study in question is a biological survey of Kenyan peoples which the author undertook in the early and mid-1970s. During this survey he obtained palm and finger prints from over 6,000 primary and secondary school children drawn from 60 population units (tribes and subtribes). The prints provided over 150 biological measures to compare the population units sampled and to analyse the biological patterns of differentiation. The dermatoglyphic evidence seems to show that, although there is considerable local differentiation caused by the dynamic interaction of local groups, the bulk of this interaction takes place within the same type of environment. This has enabled stable core population elements to persist and maintain their biological identity. Notes, ref. |