The Birth of Physical Anthropology in Late Imperial Portugal
In this article I analyze the emergence of the field of physical anthropology in the metropolitan academic sphere of the Portuguese Empire during the late nineteenth century. I suggest that Portugal’s relatively peripheral position combined with a complex internal conjuncture of political instability and economic impotence gave early Portuguese physical anthropology a less explicitly “colonial” orientation than in other, more central Western European imperial powers. I describe the various national and international exchanges leading to the birth of this naturalist anthropological tradition at the University of Coimbra, drawing particular attention to the foundational role played by the technological assemblage of large osteological collections aimed at the study of the somatic characteristics of the metropolitan “white” population. I situate these technical developments in the context of wider sociocultural and politico-economic processes of both “nation building” and “empire building.” These processes had a strong effect on the kinds of questions asked and the kinds of answers that seemed compelling and acceptable to early physical anthropologists.
The mandibular molar pit-tubercle (MMPT) dental nonmetric trait: Comprehensive analysis of a large sample.
Dental nonmetric traits are quasicontinous variables, mostly of genetic origin. Thus, sets of such traits allow biological distance estimation between samples. Mandibular molar pit-tubercle (MMPT) is a buccal trait defined by Weets (2009) in Irish samples. This study aims to analyze (a) trait frequencies, (b) grade definitions, (c) intraobserver error, (d) sexual dimorphism, (e) asymmetry, and (f) trait associations for MMPT in a Portuguese sample. The first (LM1), second (LM2) and third (LM3) lower molars of 600 identified individuals from the Coimbra collections were scored for MMPT in three scoring sessions. Intraobserver error, bilateral asymmetry and trait correlations were tested using Kendall's τ-b, while sexual dimorphism was verified using Pearson's χ2. Frequencies (LM1: 2.1%; LM2: 3.5%; LM3: 30.3%) were similar to previous reports. However, a new free apex cusp form (grade 3+) was detected. Considering three scoring sessions, intraobserver precision was above 85%, and correlation coefficients between observations were positive and moderate to very strong (0.291<τ-b<0.835). Intrasample variation was low, since only LM3 showed sexual dimorphism (female: 30.2%; males: 16.2%; χ2=15.512; p<0.001; df=1; n=556) and large asymmetry (27.1%). There were no strong (τ-b>0.3) intertrait associations involving MMPT. MMPT shows low trait presence, sexual dimorphism and asymmetry in stable teeth (LM1 and LM2). Intraobserver precision is high, so scoring should be reliable, although a plaque and better threshold grade definition is needed. After further research on non-European samples, MMPT can be useful in biodistance research.
Urban Identities and Catastrophe: Izmir and Salonica at the End of the Ottoman Empire*
Two huge fires dramatically influenced the urban development of Salonica and Izmir, in 1917 and in 1922, respectively. These catastrophes occurred after the Ottoman Empire fell, and Salonica and Izmir had shifted into new national contexts. The fires mainly destroyed the districts that were transformed during the late‐Ottoman period. These districts became the cosmopolitan façades of modern Izmir and Salonica. The post‐fires' tabula rasa provided an opportunity for Greek and Turkish politicians and European planners to change the urban identity of both cities. Moreover, the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 transformed their multicultural societies also. Reconstruction plans had been thought to de‐Ottomanize and remove the previous idea of the towns and their multiplicity, interpreting new cultural and nationalist feeling. Here, I emphasize how modernity was interpreted before and after the fires, and point out contradictions between ideological aspects of planning and how the first urban districts were built during the 1920s.