The year 1964 in the history of Estonian anthropology

Abstract

Th e fi rst data on the everyday life and descriptions and assessments of the appearance and body build of one or another nation or inhabitants (men, women, children) of a geographical region can be found in the writings of early travellers and explorers. Th e fi rst such characterisations of Estonians date from the second half of the 18th century. In the introduction to his monograph on Estonian men’s anthropology printed in Tartu in 1964, Prof. Juhan Aul wrote that in that year 150 years had passed from the publication of the fi rst anthropological study of Estonians. Th is was the doctoral thesis of Karl Ernst von Baer, a graduate of the Imperial University of Dorpat (the present University of Tartu), defended on 29 August 1814 (10 September New Style) [5] On Estonians’ Endemic Diseases (Figure 1). He was the fi rst to give more detailed descriptions and assessments of Estonians’ (men’s, women’s and children’s) body build and appearance than before. K. E. von Baer’s doctoral thesis was the fi rst step on his long and fruitful path as a scientist, and it also marked the beginning of the anthropological research of Estonians. Prof. J. Aul’s monograph was thus dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the defence of K. E. von Baer’s doctoral thesis as well as to the beginning of Estonians’ anthropological research [16].