Jm. Prince, INTERSECTION OF ECONOMICS, HISTORY, AND HUMAN BIOLOGY - SECULAR TRENDS IN STATURE IN 19TH-CENTURY SIOUX INDIANS, Human biology, 67(3), 1995, pp. 387-406
An unusual confluence of historical factors may be responsible for nin
eteenth-century Sioux being able to sustain high statures despite endu
ring adverse conditions during the early reservation experience, An ex
ceptionally long span of Dakota Sioux history was examined for secular
trends using a cross-sectional design. Two primary sources were used:
One anthropometric data set was collected in the late nineteenth cent
ury under the direction of Franz Boas, and another set was collected b
y James R. Walker in the early twentieth century. Collectively, the da
ta represent the birch years between 1820 and 1880 for adult individua
ls 20 years old or older. Adult heights (n = 1197) were adjusted for a
ging effects and regressed on age, with each data set and each sex ana
lyzed separately. Tests for differences between the adult means of age
cohorts by decade of birth (1820-1880) were also carried out, Only on
e sample of adults showed any convincing secular trend (p < 0.05): sur
prisingly, a positive linear trend for Walker's sample of adult males.
This sample was also the one sample of adults that showed significant
differences between age cohorts. The failure to find any negative sec
ular trend in this population of Amerindians is remarkable, given the
drastic socioeconomic changes that occurred with the coming of the res
ervation period (ca. 1868). Comparisons with contemporary white Americ
ans show that the Sioux remained consistently taller than whites well
into the reservation period and that Sioux children (Prince 1989) cont
inued to grow at highly favorable rates during this time of severe con
ditions, A possible explanation for these findings involves the relati
vely favorable level of subsistence support received by most of the Si
oux from the US government, as stipulated by various treaties. Conserv
ative estimates suggest that the Sioux may have been able to sustain n
et levels of per capita annual meat consumption that exceeded the US a
verage for several years before 1893.