DIORAMA: FIELD AND OFFICE WORK

Anthropobiology aims to determine racial differences. For that, several features were considered, namely skin pigmentation, eye colour and hair, the ways different hair types grew and the shape and curl of the hair, but also the shape of the eye (horizontal or oblique), the breadth and slope of the forehead, the form and prominence of supraciliary arches, the insertion of the ears and its distance from the skull, the prominence of the cheekbones face, the shape of the nose (straight, concave and convex), and the thickness of the lips (thin, medium, thick and very thick). Designs with these patterns served to (in) form the anthropobiologist's gaze in their measurements to register the corresponding results on a given racial type: Leucoderm, or white; Melanoderm, or black; and Xanthoderm, or yellow. The cephalometric points indicated to the investigator the precise location on the head where to apply the measuring instrument correctly.

©UL-IICT-ANTROP-030, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35

Anthropological and Ethnological Mission Archives of Guinea-Bissau and the Anthropological Mission of Mozambique

The massive amount of data produced during the fieldwork of the Anthropological and Ethnological Mission of Guinea-Bissau and the Anthropological Mission of Mozambique, like the somatic forms, reports, notes and photographs, were filed in cabinets, made to fit that purpose and correctly identified with the mission’s name. In the case of the Anthropological and  Ethnological Mission to Guinea-Bissau, documentation included 62 files archived with anthropometric measurements, organised by ethnic group and in alphabetical order. They have also archived 1692 original negatives in cellulose nitrate 6x6cm, 5460 contact prints on revelation paper on gelatine and silver of various formats and 792 photographic forms, and five packs of textual documentation.

In the case of the Anthropological Mission of Mozambique, in addition to the 552 negatives on film, 2725 prints were pasted on albums and 4264 single photos.  Besides, somatic files and 42 textual documentation folders were also archived.