Anthropology of the Egyptian Nubian Men - Strouhal - 2007

In 1965 and 1967, two United Arab Republic - Czechoslovak expeditions examined 600 Egyptian Nubian men, 542 women and 1,744 children, i.e. almost 6% of inhabitants of Old Nubia who had been transferred from their native country to a former desert plain south of the South-Egyptian town of Kom Ombo. Main results were published in about 40 scientific reports, but a comprehensive monograph is still missing. The present report represents one of its basic parts, together with a report on women by F. H. Hussien, defended as a CSc. thesis in 1971. It deals with the original Lower Nubia, its geography, climate, settlement pattern, anthropological development and history of its population as well as with previous anthropological notions on living Nubians. Also the main features of the New Nubia are mentioned. The histories of negotiations with Egyptian authorities, a preparatory course at the Cairo University, both expeditions and their achievements have been outlined. The aims, programme and methods of research and investigation introduce chapters with results. The anamnestic data acquired from the probands included personal data, family structure with data on the number of wives and children and their mortality, birthplaces of the probands, seasonal periodicity of their birth and their health condition. Methods of popular medical treatment are described and the descent group concept is introduced. Anthropometric data divided into cephalometric, somatometric, body composition and functional features are presented for the three Egyptian Nubian ethnic groups and a small sample of the Ababda, the nomads of the Eastern Desert, gradually settling down in Egyptian Nubia. The same features have been analyzed also in four Kenuz, three Arab and five Fadidja village samples. Statistical significance of mutual differences has been tested and discussed. The ancient Arab custom of prevailing endogamous marriages caused in the Nubians an inbreeding depression, connected with delay in growth and development of young males as well as eruption of their third molars. Various dental morphological and orthodontic anomalies were found. Several changes of metric features were proved to affect the 56 to 78-year-old Nubians. Anthroposcopic parameters reflect the influence of dry and hot climate as well as the geographic position of Egyptian Nubia. Of its three ethnic groups, the Kenuz are physically more similar to the Fadidja than both these groups to Nubian Arabs, who are the later immigrants. Egyptian Nubians retained, from the Neolithic times until now, their prevailing Caucasoid character in spite of their successful adaptation to the climate and an almost permanent Black Sudanese gene inflow. The ancient descent group concept still plays a role as an important social bond but creates no physical differences except for a few remnants between members of descent groups with names of Nubian, Arab and Turkish origins. On the other hand, distinctive features of the Sudanese Black Africans immigrated into the Fadidja territory survived. Sexual differentiation of the Nubian ethnic groups and their comparison with samples of North-East Africans close the present paper. The Fadidja are akin to the North Sudanese ethnic group of the Mahasi, which was proved to be physically close to them, while the Sudanese Arab tribe of the Rubatab showed some affinity to Nubian Arabs. From three Egyptians samples the one from Qift is the closest to all Nubian ethnic groups. The Nilotes and the Ethiopian nation of the Oromos are most distant.

Keywords

Egyptian Nubians - Czechoslovak-United Arab Republic expeditions - Cultural and social anthropology - Anthropometry - Heterosis - Growth and development - Senile changes - Descent groups - Sudanese immigrants - Sexual dimorphism - Comparison with N.-E. African samples

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