Document Type
Article
Abstract
The sample for this study consists of finger and palm prints from 230 male Quechua Indians from Vicos, Carhuas Province, Department of Ancash, about 250 miles north of Lima. This community now numbering about 2,500 individuals stems largely from a small Founder population of 99 Huaylas Quechua as of 1593, and recently as well as perhaps in the past has been strongly (95% ) endogamous. Outside (White) gene flow into the Vicos population is estimated at 5 to 10%. For the dermatoglyphic sample, 2.1% have non-Vicos surnames—a minimum index of outbreeding, and nearly 13% are close father-son or sibling relatives. Low standard deviations for the Finger Pattern Intensity Index and the Palmar Main-Line Index by side are suggestive of the essential endogamy of the Vicos population and the rather minimum inflow of foreign genes. The mean Finger Pattern Intensity Index of 12.9 and the mean Palmar Main-Line Index of 6.94 are both rather low for American Indians, and the latter bespeaks longitudinality of configuration. As with most other American Indian samples, patterns are reduced in the hypothenar-thenar-first interdigital; and second, third, and fourth interdigital areas.
Recommended Citation
Newman, Marshall T.
(1974)
"Palm and Finger Prints of Quechua Indians from Vicos in the North Central Peruvian Sierra,"
Human Biology:
Vol. 46:
Iss.
3, Article 13.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol46/iss3/13
