Post by donnie on Jan 26, 2009 14:10:36 GMT -5
Thanks to a pal of mine, I finally got my hands on 'Mountains of Giants' by Carleton S. Coon. This famous anthropologist visited Albania during the winter of 1929-30 and during his stay he measured some 1067 northern Albanians or "Ghegs" from Malsia e Madhe, Dukagjin, Mirdita, Puka, Zadrima, Has, Dibra, Luma, Malsia e Gjakovës etc.
Now regardless of what one thinks about physical anthropology and the whole "race" issue, and regardless of what one thinks of Coon personally (accusations of him being a racist and Nazi sympathizer), the work holds a value for our people nonetheless. Besides the physical measurement and "racial"classifications of the Albanian highlanders, he also gives a detailed description of Northern Albania's geography and geology and the location of various clans, the region's history and its inhabitants' customs and traditions.
I thought I'd summarize parts of the work, and if anyone is interested for more I can send the book (as a file) if you submit your adresses to me on PM.
The mean stature of Northern Albanians of this sample lies around 1,70 cm. This in turn varies from region to region. The men of Dukagjin, Malsia e Madhe and Malsia e Gjakovës were the tallest with means from 174-173cm in Dukagjin to 173-172 in Malsia e Madhe & Malsia e Gjakovës. Then comes the Puka-Has-Luma regions with means from 171-169. Dibra follows with a mean of 168cm. The shortest are found in Zadrima, Mati & Mirdita where the mean ranged from 166-167cm.
It's important to note that during this time, the average stature of all Europeans was shorter than today; better living standards, health care and nutrition has made the Europeans grow taller. Therefore, a mean stature of 170cm was considered tall back then. This is how Coon describes the northerners;
"This is a picture of an average man who has led an active out-of-door life in a hard but healthy environment, on a minimum of food which is nevertheless balanced; he is muscular, lean, and accustomed to walking long distances over rough terrain. From his neck down it would be hard to distinguish him from a shepherd in the Scottish Highlands, a Norwegian from the fjord country, or an Appalachian highlander.
Only one physiological test was made: dynamometer squeeze. Despite the cold weather, despite the stiffening of fingers through years of ploughing, the mountaineers produced a mean of 112 pounds, ranging from 45 to 190."
This last test, the dynamometer squeeze, was tested on subjects of various ages, from 18 year olds to elderly men over 70 years. Nonetheless, I believe a mean of 112 pounds, compared to the mean of 107.8 pounds in modern Caucasian males, is quite a good result.
"From the neck up the resemblance to Scots and Norwegians would continue in most respects, but would disappear in others. In the more noticeable dimensions of the face it would be quite close. The Albanian mountaineers have moderately long faces ... "
The difference which Coon was refering to is the head form, Albanians being bracychephalic (short headed, often with a flattening on the back of the skull), a characteristic of the Dinaric or Adriatic "race", while the Norse, Scots & Basques are typically longer headed, dolychephalic, which is a characteristic of the Mediterranean and Nordic "races".
"Skin color was observed on supposedly unexposed surfaces of the under arm and chest. The vast majority were about the same as the examiners -- a pinkish white approximating von Luschan #7. The other were brunet-white, in no case darker than one expects to find among Greeks or Italians. Almost all possessed the pink or red vascular flush that comes to light, thin skin with outdoor living."
"About one of 9 men had hair that could be called blond or red; of the rest, little more than half were brown haired, and the rest black. Dark brown included many who might better have been labeled brown without further qualification. The mustaches were much lighter; dark and red browns are the rule, while light browns, extreme blonds, and reds come to nearly a third of the whole. Only one-sixth of the sample had pure dark iris pigment, but the number of pure blues and grays was only half as great as that. A three-forths majority had eyes that were mixed in color, and of these the light mixtures predominate."
"In their pigment characteristics the Mountain Ghegs are about half way between blond and brunet pigment extremes as delimited by the European range; they run to light skins, dark head hair, and intermediate to light mustaches with much red, and a light mixed eye color. In pigmentation they are not very different from Highland Scots, the Basques, and the Kentucky highlanders--but considerably darker than the Norwegians. They are fairer than the italians of the portions of Italy opposite them, and fairer than Tosks, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs, while probably little different from Montenegrins, Blosnians, and Tyrolese."
I don't know about fairer than Tosks. From my experience, the most light.-haired and light-eyed Albanians were the Cams.
Now regardless of what one thinks about physical anthropology and the whole "race" issue, and regardless of what one thinks of Coon personally (accusations of him being a racist and Nazi sympathizer), the work holds a value for our people nonetheless. Besides the physical measurement and "racial"classifications of the Albanian highlanders, he also gives a detailed description of Northern Albania's geography and geology and the location of various clans, the region's history and its inhabitants' customs and traditions.
I thought I'd summarize parts of the work, and if anyone is interested for more I can send the book (as a file) if you submit your adresses to me on PM.
The mean stature of Northern Albanians of this sample lies around 1,70 cm. This in turn varies from region to region. The men of Dukagjin, Malsia e Madhe and Malsia e Gjakovës were the tallest with means from 174-173cm in Dukagjin to 173-172 in Malsia e Madhe & Malsia e Gjakovës. Then comes the Puka-Has-Luma regions with means from 171-169. Dibra follows with a mean of 168cm. The shortest are found in Zadrima, Mati & Mirdita where the mean ranged from 166-167cm.
It's important to note that during this time, the average stature of all Europeans was shorter than today; better living standards, health care and nutrition has made the Europeans grow taller. Therefore, a mean stature of 170cm was considered tall back then. This is how Coon describes the northerners;
"This is a picture of an average man who has led an active out-of-door life in a hard but healthy environment, on a minimum of food which is nevertheless balanced; he is muscular, lean, and accustomed to walking long distances over rough terrain. From his neck down it would be hard to distinguish him from a shepherd in the Scottish Highlands, a Norwegian from the fjord country, or an Appalachian highlander.
Only one physiological test was made: dynamometer squeeze. Despite the cold weather, despite the stiffening of fingers through years of ploughing, the mountaineers produced a mean of 112 pounds, ranging from 45 to 190."
This last test, the dynamometer squeeze, was tested on subjects of various ages, from 18 year olds to elderly men over 70 years. Nonetheless, I believe a mean of 112 pounds, compared to the mean of 107.8 pounds in modern Caucasian males, is quite a good result.
"From the neck up the resemblance to Scots and Norwegians would continue in most respects, but would disappear in others. In the more noticeable dimensions of the face it would be quite close. The Albanian mountaineers have moderately long faces ... "
The difference which Coon was refering to is the head form, Albanians being bracychephalic (short headed, often with a flattening on the back of the skull), a characteristic of the Dinaric or Adriatic "race", while the Norse, Scots & Basques are typically longer headed, dolychephalic, which is a characteristic of the Mediterranean and Nordic "races".
"Skin color was observed on supposedly unexposed surfaces of the under arm and chest. The vast majority were about the same as the examiners -- a pinkish white approximating von Luschan #7. The other were brunet-white, in no case darker than one expects to find among Greeks or Italians. Almost all possessed the pink or red vascular flush that comes to light, thin skin with outdoor living."
"About one of 9 men had hair that could be called blond or red; of the rest, little more than half were brown haired, and the rest black. Dark brown included many who might better have been labeled brown without further qualification. The mustaches were much lighter; dark and red browns are the rule, while light browns, extreme blonds, and reds come to nearly a third of the whole. Only one-sixth of the sample had pure dark iris pigment, but the number of pure blues and grays was only half as great as that. A three-forths majority had eyes that were mixed in color, and of these the light mixtures predominate."
"In their pigment characteristics the Mountain Ghegs are about half way between blond and brunet pigment extremes as delimited by the European range; they run to light skins, dark head hair, and intermediate to light mustaches with much red, and a light mixed eye color. In pigmentation they are not very different from Highland Scots, the Basques, and the Kentucky highlanders--but considerably darker than the Norwegians. They are fairer than the italians of the portions of Italy opposite them, and fairer than Tosks, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs, while probably little different from Montenegrins, Blosnians, and Tyrolese."
I don't know about fairer than Tosks. From my experience, the most light.-haired and light-eyed Albanians were the Cams.