BRIEF COMMUNICATION - STATURE ESTIMATION IN EXTINCT AONIKENK AND THE MYTH OF PATAGONIAN GIGANTISM

The Aonikenk were a hunter-gatherer group that inhabited the southern extreme of Patagonia at European Contact and became extinct at the end of the 19th century. The myth of Patagonian gigantism developed aroun d these aborigines from early Spanish explorer accounts. In this study , the postcranial remains belonging to the Aonikenk (Patagonia) and th e Selk'nam (Tierra del Fuego) preserved at the Institute de la Patagon ia (UMAG, Chile) have been measured, using standard metrics. Different stature estimations for these groups have been generated, by using th e different regression formulae available. Aonikenk male stature appea rs to be between 174 and 178 cm on average, whereas the Selk'nam are c onsiderably shorter. In addition, stature estimations from Spanish pop ulations dating to the contact period have been compiled for compariso n. While it can be concluded that the Aonikenk probably presented the highest stature values of all Meso- and South American populations, it is suggested that the perception of their gigantism could be partiall y attributed to the real difference in stature (probably more than 10 cm) between these aborigines and contemporaneous Europeans. (C) 1998 W iley-Liss, Inc.