Lappland 1868

[Pallantides]

In 1868, Swedish physician and anthropologist Gustaf von Düben organized the first of two expeditions to Swedish Lapland in order to study the Sami people. The material thus collected formed the basis of a long monograph titled “About Lapland and the Lapps” (1873). Gustaf von Düben’s wife Lotten documented the expeditions using a camera - still a relatively novel tool. Using cumbersome equipment carried by Sami porters, Lotten von Düben produced a number of wet plate collodion negatives. The prints made from these negatives were organized in albums like the one presented here.
Typical of the period in which they were produced, Lotten von Düben’s photographs portray the Sami as strangely exotic and inferior. The images have a scientific quality to them, equaling humans and objects, measuring, indexing and archiving them for research purposes. But in spite of this disparity, there is gravity in the meeting between the researcher and the object of study, the latter gazing back at the viewer.

Profile portrait of Per Olof Amundsson Länta from Sirkas Sami village.


A Sami man carrying a spear.


A Sami man carrying a stick.


Portrait of Amund Nilsson Länta, aged 70, from Sirkas Sami village.


Portrait of Elsa Nilsdotter Länta, aged 35, from Sirkas Sami village.


Portrait of Nils Paulus Larsson Länta, aged 26, from Sirkas Sami village.


Portrait of Inga Kajsa Finnberg, aged 14, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Portrait of Maria Persdotter Länta, aged 45, from Sirkas Sami village.


Portrait of Karin Nilsdotter Finnberg, aged 50, from Sirkas Sami village.

[Pallantides]

Portrait of Pava Lars Nilsson Tuorda, aged 24, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Portrait of the widow Ristin Menlös, aged 44, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Inga Pantsi, a widow from Tuorpon Sami village, and her granddaughter.


Portrait of Karin Savalo, a widow from Tuorpon Sami village, and her daughter Inga.


Portrait of Amund Persson Hunsi, aged 64, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Nils Pålsson Menlös, aged 36, a Norwegian Sami from Tuorpon.


Portrait of Nicka Gruvvisare, aged 64, from Sirkas Sami village.


Portrait of Olof Gruvvisare, aged 28, from Sirkas Sami village.

[Pallantides]

Portrait of Amma Pirkit Larsson, a Sami man from Tuorpon.


Portrait of Lars Anders Baggi, aged 25, from Jokkmokk.


Portrait of Anders Olof Pantsi, aged 34, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Portrait of Pava Matsson Mulka, aged 18, a Sami from Jokkmokk.


Portrait of Inga Kajsa Granström, aged 22, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Portrait of Nils Johan Granström, aged 60, from Tuorpon Sami village.


Portrait of unknown Sami woman from Tuorpon Sami village.


Eva Brita Mulka, aged 28, carrying her swaddled baby in a sack slung over her shoulder.


Portrait of Nils Nilsson Granström, aged 26, from Tuorpon.

[Pallantides]

Portrait of Per Persson Vannar, aged 60, from Sjokksjokk Sami village.



Non-Sami or mixed individuals(these are first in the book, but I decided to post them last.)

Lieutenant H A Widmark


Portrait of Lotta Laestadius (1826-1873), a vicar´s wife from Jokkmokk, Sweden.


Portrait of the vicar Johan Laestadius (1815-1895) of Jokkmokk, Sweden.


Portrait of Maria Laestadius (1853-1878).


Miss H. Björkman


Portrait of Mrs. Westerlund and her daughter, Jokkmokk.


Portrait of Mr. Mannberg, bell-ringer in Kvikkjokk, Sweden.

[Pallantides]

Gustaf and Lotten von Düben

[Motörhead Remember Me]

Their faces look rather dark but that is solely because of soot from open fire as the Saamis rarely washed. The soot gave protection from mosquitoes which are very, very annoying and painful in summer.
The faces are clearly weatherbitten, these people spent 95% of their time outdoor in very varying and harsh conditions, both winter and summer.
The Saamis were on a solid meat and fish diet with extremely little fruit, vegetables and cereals on the menu, clearly visible by strong masseter muscles and prominent jawbones.

[Albion]

Someone should start a thread about the Norwegian, Finnish and Norwegian settlement of Lappland.

[Pallantides]

Their faces look rather dark but that is solely because of soot from open fire as the Saamis rarely washed. The soot gave protection from mosquitoes which are very, very annoying and painful in summer.
The faces are clearly weatherbitten, these people spent 95% of their time outdoor in very varying and harsh conditions, both winter and summer.
The Saamis were on a solid meat and fish diet with extremely little fruit, vegetables and cereals on the menu, clearly visible by strong masseter muscles and prominent jawbones.

Also a few of the people are from the same family and some are very old.

[aherne]

Profile portrait of Per Olof Amundsson Länta from Sirkas Sami village.

This guy looks like an "ideal" Hungarian (one that inherits totally the phenotype of ancient Magyars). The problem is that this type is not mainly Uralic, but Turanid, so I guess this guy is Eurasian (Uralic+Samoyed in this case).

A Sami man carrying a spear.

Localized Alpine. Weak Mongoloid influence.

A Sami man carrying a stick.

Localized Alpine. No Mongoloid influence. Strange looks...

Portrait of Amund Nilsson Länta, aged 70, from Sirkas Sami village.

Eurasian. Looks like a Silvid Indian/European hybrid.

Portrait of Elsa Nilsdotter Länta, aged 35, from Sirkas Sami village.

Mongoloid. Classical West Siberian type (common to Yeniseians and Samoyeds, who most likely were originally uralid and took their mongoloid features by mixture with Yeniseians).

Portrait of Nils Paulus Larsson Länta, aged 26, from Sirkas Sami village.

Typical Lapp, similar to Olof Amundsson Länta.

Portrait of Inga Kajsa Finnberg, aged 14, from Tuorpon Sami village.

Uralic + Alpine.

Portrait of Maria Persdotter Länta, aged 45, from Sirkas Sami village.

I don't know how to classify this individual. He looks totally Lapp, though.

Portrait of Karin Nilsdotter Finnberg, aged 50, from Sirkas Sami village.

Mostly Caucasoid. Looks like a Gypsy.

[aherne]

Why is that Lapps have changed so much? If these pictures were fairly taken to represent average Lapps, then Mongoloid influence was apparent in most individuals, with some looking like oldest Ob/Yenisey bassin dwellers: