DETERMINATION OF THE GROWTH CURVE OF THE KUKUKUKU PEOPLE OF NEW GUINEA FROM DENTAL ERUPTION IN CHILDREN AND ADULT HEIGHT

Abstract

T^HE study of growth and development of children in several areas of New Guinea 1 has led to the finding that the rate of growth of children in a society is proportional to the adult height of that society (Malcolm 1968). The growth of the New Guinea child, especially in the shorter statured highland people, is slower and development and maturity reached later than in any population previously reported in any part of the world. Menarche in the Bundi people occurs at 18 -o years and in one group of Bundi people with only limited marriage ties to Chimbus at 18 -6 years (Malcolm 1968). Malcolm (1968) has also shown that while morphological development is slow, dental eruption times in highlands children are only slightly and predictably later than other New Guinea populations. These findings have been used to determine the curve of growth in height and weight for a very short statured New Guinea population, the Vallala people in the Western Census Divison of the Menyamya Sub-district, part of a larger group commonly known as Kukukukus.