Regional isolation in the Balkan region: an analysis of craniofacial variation.
Biological variation is investigated among contemporary Croatians, Bosnians, American whites, and other multitemporal Balkan populations (World War II Croatians, Macedonians, and Greeks) via multivariate statistics and distance measures of the craniofacial complex. This study demonstrates that there is considerable variation among groups of European ancestry. Bosnians and Croatians who are thought to be relatively homogenous and historically to originate from the same Slav ancestry show local variations. While environmental plasticity has been used to explain cranial changes among human groups, it does not adequately explain the variation observed between Bosnians and Croatians. It is an oversimplification to exclusively attribute the vast range of variability observed among local as well as geographic populations to environmental adaptations.
Ross
Ann H
AH
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA.
D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D000886:Anthropometry; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina / Q000208:ethnology; D017523:Croatia / Q000208:ethnology; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005843:Geography; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014481:United States; D044465:White People