Facial prognathism did not differ very greatly in the different groups,
yet there is a perceptible tendency toward a greater orthognathy among
Indians of the northeastern states and Canada, and to somewhat greater
protrusion among those of Long Island and Staten Island, the Munsee,
and the Virginians of the Valentine collection. Alveolar prognathism
(see table for details) was most pronounced on Manhattan Island, Long
Island, and Staten Island; east among the New York Indians and among
those of southeastern Canada, Maine, and Massachusetts.
It is evident from the data presented above, that the eastern
Algonquian (and Iroquois) Indians, while essentially of one type,
approached purity of type much more in the northeastern Atlantic states
and in southeastern Canada than farther south. It is further plain
that the stock presented numerous and occasionally marked localized
or tribal as well as individual variations, and that in several of
the states, and possibly even in Rhode Island, it was modified more
or less by admixture with individuals of both sexes from across the
Appalachians or the south. A locally differentiated group which in many
respects already stood more or less apart from the neighboring tribes
and was also characterized especially by more than average development,
is the cluster of tribes of Manhattan Island, Long Island, and Staten
Island. The Munsee and other Lenape stand in close relation in many
important respects, though they exhibit also some differences; and
both of them, as already shown, agree with the rest of the eastern
Algonquians, more especially with their immediate neighbors to the
north and south.
The tables of detail measurements of the Eastern Indian crania follow.