Warwick L Nixon Wrote:
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> thanks Katherine. Your answer was exactly the
> answer I expected, and should satisfy Doug's
> doubts.
>
> aas to the nasal structure....It is my
> understanding that the Fleshier nose is an aspect
> of environment ie less arid, more humid and
> jungle like (it is this factt that dispel;s the
> Olmec?africa association as well). Surely the
> dessert has slowly been spreading south??
`Yes, as I pointed out I my CA paper, the nose shape of the Olmec colossal heads rules out Egyptians as the source of Olmec civilization. Tropical Africans do have the broader shorter nose, but differ from the Olmec heads in dolicocephaly (long narrow heads) and prognatism.

S. Molnar. 1998. Human Variation 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

p.211-212. “ A narrow nasal aperture provides an efficient mechanism for warming as well as moistening the inspired air. It is a simple mater of geometry that a high, narrow, nasal opening can warm and moisten air more efficiently than a short, broad one, and in climates where the moisture content of the air is very low, selective forces act on this particular nose form, whether the dryness is due to intense heat or intense cold.. .
Because face form is a result of a complex of growth processes of several facial bones, any single feature is the result of interacting forces. This is especially true of nose form, whose width is related to the size and proportions of the upper dental arch. As the palate gets wider, the nasal aperture becomes broader, and the Australian Aborigines are a good example. Though most live in some of the driest areas of the world, their noses are extremely broad as noted earlier. This dimension is related to the large anterior teeth and to chewing processes exerted on t he dental arches during childhood, which stimulates the palatal growth. Also, prognatism tends to be associated with a short, broad nose, and a significant correlation has been found between the length of the skull base and nasal width.
…. ..

“Conclusions should not be drawn too quickly about relationships between any two populations solely on the basis of a similarity in structure because face form, like other bodily dimensions, develops according to local factors of natural selection acting on genes that regulate growth. It is not necessary to postulate migrations and intermixtures to explain similarities between populations, as was once done for the Nilotic face form found in groups like the Nuer.

Bernard




>
> IOW's 3 or 4 1000 years ago, we would have
> encountered the Fleshier noses farther north than
> today
>
>
> warwick
>
> To the Best of My knowledge and In My Honest
> Opinion