Savolax region - Summary

Pesonen's study on the Savolax region was published in 1937. For this study 595 men between the ages 25-49 and 376 women between the ages 20-49 had been studied. They were from all over Savolax from Kiuruvesi to Lappeenranta.

Average height of men was 167,4cm and women 154,53cm. The tallest men (168,06cm avg) were found in the area consisting Joroinen and Mikkeli, the shortest were found south of this area in the Savonlinnna region (165,8cm). This region also had the shortest women (152,26cm) whereas the tallest women were found south of this area (155,78cm). T

The cephalic index of men averaged at 81,109 and it was largest in the areas of Kuopio and Mikkeli (81,281; 81,232). More than 3/4 were mesocephalic and brachycephalic (both 39,2%). The average cephalic index of women was 81,504
Out of men 44,5% had a wide-face, medium-faced 21,6%. The widest faces were found in Southern Savolax and around the Kuopio region. The most narrow faces were found in the Mikkeli region (half of the measured individuals). Narrow noses were found among half of the men and extremely narrow noses among 10%. In women the numbers of narrow noses were even higher (59,1%, 10,3%)

The population of the Savolax region was mainly blond. Around 87% of men had light-eyes, brown eyes were found among 9%. Again there were more brown-eyes among the women (17,4%) However brown-eyed men were found in Northern Savolax more often than normally (23,1%) Extremely blond hair was rare among men (3,2%), however dark-blond hair was found in 46,2%. Very dark hair was found in 20% of men. Over half of the measured women had brown or darker toned hair. As in Satakunta, the tallest individuals of the Savolax region were not the blondest. However shorter men were on average a bit darker than tall men. Tall women more often had brown eyes than short women (40% and 20%). The same goes for hair colour. Brown hair was more common among tall individuals. The dolichocephalic men were more often brown-eyed than other groups, however dark hair was more frequent among those who were brachycephalic (18,2%). Dark-brown or brown was found among 45% of the brachycephalic individuals. The rest mainly had blond/light hair (half of the measured individuals).

Majority of men had light coloured eyes. It was noted that the short, brachycephalic individuals couldn't have gotten their height and short skull through Sami-influence because of blondism. Among women, brachycephalics more often seemed to have brown eyes. However the short statured people with brown eyes and dark hair might indeed be a a result of Sami-admixture, however these features were not a frequent phenomenon among the individuals. Dark hair was more common than expected among tall men with dolichocephalic skulls, which lead the research to conclude that other type "dark" influence was present and it was not Lapponoid.

Niilo Pesonen, Anthropologische Untersuchungen an Bewohnern der Landschaft Savo (Helsinki, 1937)