Cold response, body form, and craniofacial shape in two racial groups of Hawaii

The goals of this research were two. A first aim was to determine relationships between craniofacial anatomy and craniofacial response to cold, and a second, to apply the results to historical and evolutionary models. Detailed anthropometric measurements were taken on 58 young men native to Hawaii; 33 were of Japanese descent, and 25 of European ancestry. Facial and other temperatures were recorded during 70 minutes of cooling at 0°C. Heat loss was enhanced by ten foot-per-second air movement. Though the Europeans showed more cold-induced vasodilation at facial sites, there were cross-sample correlation agreements which suggested that temperatures remain lower in the presence of high cheek thickness, protrusive malar area, and probably a smaller, shorter head. Consequently, the Coon-Garn-Birdsell “cold-engineered face,” based on a frostbite selection model, is rejected, and an effort is made to fit Asiatics, Europeans and European Neanderthals to current findings. Additional detail is presented on shape-temperature regressions as well as simple racial comparisons for cranio-facial shape, body build, and temperature.