Changes of Cephalic Index in South-Eastern Poland, 1978 vs. 2004

[Lucas]

Unfortunately pagan east-Germanic tribes burned their deads. But from scanty normal burials they were mostly Nordoid.

Slavs were meso-doli in the period of expansion. After Slavic settling in Central Europe there wasn't any influx of brachy people (between VII to XIII century).
Brachycephalization started in XIV century when Poland were local power. We even missed Black Death which from some unknown reasons didn't appear in Poland.

[cosmoo]

I know this is off topic but I am confused as to what skull shape I have...I seem to have a long head but horizontally wide at the same time. Can I be brachi but have a longish skull at the same time?

Absolute width and length are not correlated to cephalic index in any way. Cephalic index is merely a width:length ratio. So yes, a brachycephalic man can indeed have head that is very long in absolute sense. Borreby Jutlander from Coon's plates, for example, was brachy, but had longer head than any Nordid example:

I doubt cephalic index can be accurately determined without calipers, but it is possible to define it in broader sense.

In Poland Slavs spread mainly over leftovers of East Germanic populations (Vandals, Goths, etc.). Are you saying that those populations were predominantly Neo-Danubian?

No, Neo-Danubian element is strongest in East Slavic lands, where I reckon it appeared by mixing with some Ugro-Finnic population with high dose of basal Ladogan (even though original Ugro-Finnics were mostly Nordid, they too got changed by a possibly Uralic strain).
Poland, in comparison with eastern Slavic lands, had higher amounts of Nordids (what most of original Slavs looked like) and East Baltic (probably influence of Baltic peoples, mostly in Prussia).

Unfortunately pagan east-Germanic tribes burned their deads. But from scanty normal burials they were mostly Nordoid.

It is quite hard to determine east Germanic burials before some of them converted to Arianism, when they practiced weaponless burials. AFAIK none of the skulls studied are from that period, so their main phenotype is not known with certainity.
The only preserved skull I've seen so far is that of a Bastarnae woman. It looks UP.

[Lucas]

In Poland Slavs spread mainly over leftovers of East Germanic populations (Vandals, Goths, etc.). Are you saying that those populations were predominantly Neo-Danubian?

http://www.statsoft.pl/Portals/0/Dow...pologiczne.pdf


Third column is for suposed East-Germans from Poland - Przeworsk and Wielbark cultures.
Calculated C.I. is 74.57.

[Sacrificed Ram]

I hope it doens't mean a loss of cranial capacity, they reduced the cephalic index reducing cranial volume.

[Lucas]

Alekseeva

Eastern Slavic tribes from early medieval period - Polans (from Kiev), Sevverians, Radymiches, Dregoviches, Vyatichi, Kryvichi, Ilmen Slovenians, Drevlans, Volynians (from supoposed Neo-Danubain center CI 73,5 and biggest dimensions)
4 column (8:1) with C.I.

[Lucas]

I hope it doens't mean a loss of cranial capacity, they reduced the cephalic index reducing cranial volume.

It could be the excess of width and lenght could stay the same. In this case you have bigger head. Or lenght and breadth diminshed proportionally in this case capaicty stay the same.
Or only lenght was diminished, in this case capacity was smaller yes.

[Lucas]

Some Polish skulls (men & women) from Ostrow Lednicki in Gretaer Poland (X century). In paper there were more than 600. Generally similar.