T.Y.Roschier's study on Karelia. According to the 1930's popular theory, Roschier said that the forefathers of the Carelians had arrived to the Lake Ladoga and Onega region around 500 A.D and populated the Carelia and Savolax regions by 700 A.D He displayed studies by C. von Haartman and studies by the Russians A. V. Elisejev (1882), A.J.Kolmogorov (1904), V.N. Mainov (1881) and D. A. Zolotarev (1920's) Eliseiev made a trip to Scandianavia and Lapland and after that he practiced as a military doctor in Finland. He said that the Finnish population greatly differed from their Swedish, Norwegian and Russian neighbours.
According to Roschier he stereotyped them along the lines of v. Haartman and considered the Carelians to be a mixed race and not pure Finns. Kolmogorov said the Finns to be brachycephalic, large built, light eyed and blond haired. The Finnish Carelians were compared to those living in Russia. Mainov considered them to be darker than the Finnish Carelians. They differed very little from Russians, however their eyes were said to be slanted, faces were angular and the cheekbones hinted towards Uralic-Altaic origin. The most famous depictor of the Carelians must have been Zolotarev. His depiction didn't differ that much from the previous, althoug he provided slightly more accurate information. In addition to the mention of slanted eyes he mentioned that epicanthic folds in Carelians were rare. The Carelians of the Soviet Union were claimed to be closer to Russians than the Finnish Carelians. Generally the Carelians were said to be showing traits of Nordic, East-Baltic, Lapponoid and North-Uralid races. The Finnish Carelian was depicted as being larger and more harsh featured than the Russian Carelian (wide jawed, snub nose, poor beard growth and a dim unpleasant facial expression)
The new anthropological researchers noticed that researchers had used different ways of measuring in their previous studies. For example the height measurements by Westerlund, Wilksman and Roschier gave results which different from each other by several centimeters. This was explained with the age variation of the measured induviduals (conscription age and fully grown males) and the differences in research technique. Roschier performed measurements in 1925 and provided supplementary measurements to complete the study in 1929. His material wasn't that large compared to Westerlund for example, because it consisted of 736 men between the ages of 25-50 and 490 women between the ages of 20-50. However the study was more accurate and versatile because of Martin's instructions. In the final inspection we'll look at the factors which often were "looked for" when looking for the “Finnish race".
The Carelian men were medium sized (average height of men was 166,29cm and women 154,83cm). The Finnish Carelians had a high, narrow nose, the eyes were mainly light (men 83,8%) and brown eyes were found in 7,5% of the studied individuals. Brown eyes were more frequent among women (15,7%).
The men mainly had three types of hair colours (dark brown or black, blond (mainly dark-blonde) and brown hair. Roschier released his study at a time when pure racial types were considered "possible" and racial types were given ideal measurements and features. That's why comparisons were made between Carelians, Swedes, Russian Carelia and Russians. As expected, Swedes were judged to be larger, more dolichocephalic and more slim/slender built. The difference towards Russian Carelians was the opposite, however the difference was thought to be minor.
The Finnish Carelians were conclued to be brachycephalic (male index 81,67, women 81,88). The difference to the meso/dolicocephalic Swedes was considered to be rather big, however the Carelians of Russia were said to be less brachycephalic. According to the starting points of the studies of this time, Carelians were labelled as a mixed population, consisting elements from different races. In an old-time fashion Roschier spoke of Germanic, Slavic and Lapponoid-races.
Extracts from Roschier's study.Carelia divided into areas/groups of study.
Gebiet = Area
Gebiet 1 = Nurmes, Valtimo,
Rautavaara, Juuka, Säyneinen and Kaavi
Gebiet 2 = Pielisjärvi, Eno, Ilomantsi ja Tuupovaara
Gebiet 3 = Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi
, Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä,
Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti
and Joensuu.
Gebiet 4 = Korpiselkä, Soanlahti, Suojärvi, Suistamo
, Impilahti and Salmi.
Gebiet 5 = Ruskeala, Harlu, Uukunniemi, Jaakkima, Saari
, Parikkala, Lumivaara, Simpele, Kurkijoki and Sortavala.
Gebiet 6 = Rautjärvi, Ilmee, Hiitola, Kirvu, Jääski,
Antrea, Vuoksenranta, Heinjoki, Vuoksela, Ihontala, Kaukola,
Räisälä, Pyhäjärvi, Nuijamaa, Äyräpää, Vahviala, Johannes,
Ylämaa, Koivisto, Säkkijärvi, Miehikkälä, Virolahti, Muolaa,
Valkjärvi, Sakkola, Metsäpirtti, Rautu, Kyyrölä, Kuolemanjärvi,
Kivennapa, Uusikirkko, Kanneljärvi, Kuokkala, Terijoki, Käkisalmi
and Viipuri.
Gebiet A = Western part of North-Carelia (1 and 3)
Gebiet B = Eastern part of North-Carelia (2 and 4)
Gebiet C = North-Carelian group (1,2,3,4 and 5)
Gebiet 6 = South-Carelian group
To classify cephalic indexes into groups, the following system was used
Dolichocephalic x- 75.9
Mesocephalic 76-80.9
Brachycephalic 81-85.4
Hyperbrachycephalic 85.5-x
Male cephalic indexes (table)
Frequency table of cephalic indexes for men
Area 1 (men)2.4% Dolichocephalic
28.6% Mesocephalic
57.1% Brachycephalic
11.9% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 2 (men)2.5% Dolichocephalic
45.7% Mesocephalic
41.1% Brachycephalic
10.7% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 3 (men)1.1% Dolichocephalic
40.7 % Mesocephalic
52.8% Brachycephalic
5.5% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 4 (men)2.9% Dolichocephalic
39.2% Mesocephalic
44.1% Brachycephalic
13.7% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 5 (men)6.3% Dolichocephalic
33.8% Mesocephalic
50 % Brachycephalic
10 % Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 6 (men)4.2% Dolichocephalic
33.9% Mesocephalic
45.8% Brachycephalic
16.1% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area A (men)1.5% Dolichocephalic
36.8% Mesocephalic
54.1% Brachycephalic
7.5% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area B (men)2.7% Dolichocephalic
42.4% Mesocephalic
42.6% Brachycephalic
12.2% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area C (men)2.9% Dolichocephalic
40.1% Mesocephalic
46.1 % Brachycephalic
10.9 % Hyperbrachycephalic
All Carelian men3.1% Dolichocephalic
39.1% Mesocephalic
46% Brachycephalic
11.7% Hyperbrachycephalic
Conclusions about male cephalic indexes.
The most dolichocephalic area was Area 5 with 6.3%
(Ruskeala, Harlu, Uukunniemi, Jaakkima, Saari , Parikkala, Lumivaara, Simpele, Kurkijoki and Sortavala) Least dolichocephalic area was Area 3 with 1.1%
(Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi , Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä, Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti and Joensuu.)The most mesocephalic area was Area 2
(Pielisjärvi, Eno, Ilomantsi ja Tuupovaara) with 45.7% and the
least mesocephalic area was area 1
(Nurmes, Valtimo, Rautavaara, Juuka, Säyneinen and Kaavi) with 28.6%
The most brachycephalic area was Area 1
(Nurmes, Valtimo, Rautavaara, Juuka, Säyneinen and Kaavi) with 57.1% brachycephalics. The least brachycephalic area was area Area 2
(Pielisjärvi, Eno, Ilomantsi ja Tuupovaara) with 41.1% Brachycephalics.
The
most hyperbrachycephalic area was Area 6 (South-Carelia) with 16.1%. The least hyperbrachycephalic area was Area 3
(Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi , Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä, Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti and Joensuu) with 5.5% hyperbrachycephalics.
Female cephalic indexes (table)
Frequency table of cephalic indexes for women
Area 1 (women)4.3% Dolichocephalic
30.4% Mesocephalic
52.2% Brachycephalic
13.0% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 2 (women)4.8% Dolichocephalic
30.6% Mesocephalic
51.6% Brachycephalic
12.9% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 3 (women)5 % Dolichocephalic
48 % Mesocephalic
37 % Brachycephalic
10 % Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 4 (women)7 % Dolichocephalic
31 % Mesocephalic
51.2% Brachycephalic
10.9% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 5 (women)3.6% Dolichocephalic
21.7% Mesocephalic
47 % Brachycephalic
27.7% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area 6 (women)4.3% Dolichocephalic
36.6% Mesocephalic
44.1% Brachycephalic
15.1% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area A (women)4.9% Dolichocephalic
44.7% Mesocephalic
39.8% Brachycephalic
10.6% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area B (women)6.3% Dolichocephalic
30.9% Mesocephalic
51.3% Brachycephalic
11.5% Hyperbrachycephalic
Area C (women)5.3% Dolichocephalic
33.2% Mesocephalic
46.9% Brachycephalic
14.6% Hyperbrachycephalic
All Carelian women
5.1% Dolichocephalic
33.9% Mesocephalic
46.3% Brachycephalic
14.7% Hyperbrachycephalic
Out of women, the
most dolichocephalic area was Area 4 (
Korpiselkä, Soanlahti, Suojärvi, Suistamo, Impilahti and Salmi.) with 7% dolichocephalics. The
least dolichocephalic area was area 5 (
Ruskeala, Harlu, Uukunniemi, Jaakkima, Saari , Parikkala, Lumivaara, Simpele, Kurkijoki and Sortavala.) with 3.6% dolichocephalics.
The
most mesocephalic area was Area 3 (
Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi
, Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä, Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti and Joensuu.) with 48% mesocephalics.
The
most brachycephalic area was Area 1
(Nurmes, Valtimo, Rautavaara, Juuka, Säyneinen and Kaavi)with 52.2% brachycephalics. The
least brachycephalic area was Area 3
(Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi , Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä, Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti and Joensuu.) with 37% brachycephalics.
The
most hyperbrachycephalic area was Area 5
(Ruskeala, Harlu, Uukunniemi, Jaakkima, Saari , Parikkala, Lumivaara, Simpele, Kurkijoki and Sortavala.) with 27.7% hyperbrachycephalics. The least hyperbrachycephalic area was Area 3 (
Kuusjärvi, Polvijärvi, Kontiolahti, Liperi, Pyhäselkä, Pielisensuu, Kiihtelysvaara, Rääkkylä, Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä, Pälkjärvi, Kitee, Kesälähti and Joensuu.)with 10% hyperbrachycephalics.
Arguably one might re-count the distiribution of cephalic indexes from the frequency table by using stricter classifications for the various indexes. Ie. under 75 = dolicho, 75-79.9 meso, over 80 brachy and 85-89.9 for hyperbrachycephalics. This would in some cases make many slightly meso-brachycephalics into purely brachycephalics. However other FAS-studies such as Löfgren's study on Nyland used the exact same values as Roschier.
I will add other tables from the book into this same post when I have the time.
Sources -
T.Y.Roschier - Anthropologische Untersuchungen an Bewohnern der Landschaft Karjala (Helsinki, 1931)
