Southwestern physical anthropology: Do the cultural and biological parameters correspond?

Abstract

AbstractSkeletal series representing 15 prehistoric and historic Southwestern American Indian groups were examined to estimate the degree of biological distance on the basis of craniometric data, to re‐examine Carl Seltzer's ('44) hypothesis of biological continuity in the Southwest Plateau region, and to see whether the biological parameters correspond to the cultural taxonomies and chronological subdivisions of the Southwestern prehistorians. Within and between group differences were found to be relatively small. Cultural and genetic isolation, disease selection and dietary patterns are suggested to best explain these differences. Seltzer's ('44) hypothesis is firmly supported. Conclusions reached by physical anthropologists with regard to biological relationships through time and space in the Southwest Plateau area are in agreement with the archeological subdivisions and known cultural history of the American Southwest.