Geographic variation of native people along the Pacific Coast

Data gathered by Boas in the 1890s from 1749 adult males and 1056 adult females were subjected to anthropometric analyses to investigate possible effects of climatic adaptation. The subjects were native people from California, Oregon, Washington, the panhandle of Alaska, and British Columbia. They were categorized by their tribe's latitude and longitude (the center point of tribal distribution) and by habitat (characterized as coastal, western lowlands, and interior). Multiple R regressions were used to determine complex relationships between age, habitat, latitude, rainfall, mean January temperature, mean July temperature, and blood quantum, all of which affected some anthropometric variables to statistically significant degrees in both the male and the female samples. Body size and proportional differences support other studies of Bergmann's and Allen's rules, and variation in the nasal index supports prior studies of selection of longer, narrower noses in cold and dry climates and broader noses in warmer, moister ones. Recent disruption in the central portion of the study area was detectable in reduced size of subjects in these regions. Other complicating factors, such as ethnicity and the possibility of prior migrations and intermarriage between populations, are discussed.