Book
A contribution to Tongan somatology
Bishop Museum Press • 8 (4) • Published In 1922 • Pages: 231-260
By: Sullivan, Louis R. (Louis Robert), Gifford, Edward Winslow, McKern, W. C. (Will Carleton).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a description of Tongan somatology based on measurements of 225 adult and adolescent Tongans. The description covers 19 anthropometric features (11 measurements and 8 indices) including stature, head length and width, face height and width, and indices such as cephalic, fronto-parietal, and nasal; and somatological characteristics such as skin, hair, and eye color, amount of body hair, epicanthic fold, etc. Following the description, Tongans are compared with Samoans to whom they are very similar. Sullivan next discusses Melanesian intermixture with the Tongans. He concludes with a discussion of racial affinities and states that the evidence for a Caucasian origin of Tongans and Samoans is 'decidedly sparse and unconvincing' (p. 258) and that instead they appear to 'belong to the brown division of the Yellow-Brown race' (p. 260). The source includes 56 photographs of Tongan faces, full face and profile.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Organization and analysis of results of research
- Location
- Anthropometry
- Descriptive somatology
- Racial identification
- Personal grooming
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tongans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2006
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Polynesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Physical Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Martin J. Malone; 1978
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- ca. 1920-1921
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tonga
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Louis R. Sullivan, based on the field studies of E. W. Gifford and W. C. McKern
- 'Bayard Dominick Expedition. Publication no. 2'
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 22022374
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tongans