Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Page 50

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Anthropological and Genetic Studies of the Faroese
more extreme than those of Icelanders. Mean total ridge count
is low, particularly so in the females. Skin colour as measured
by an EEL reflectance spectrophotometer is extremely pale.
Hair colour, as in the Icelanders, includes a higher proportion
of darker shades than other Scandinavian populations. Colour
vision deficiency was detected in 11 of 148 males and 1 of
126 females. Resemblance between the Faroese and Icelanders
suggests a similar ethnic composition, both are descended from
predominantly Norse Viking populations which settled first
in the Faroes then Iceland in the 9th Century A.D. The results,
not yet available, of the analysis of over 600 blood samples
will provide more precise information on the relative biologi-
cal affinities of the Faroese and surrounding populations.
Introduction
During the summer of 1977 an anthropological and genetic
survey of the Faroe Islanders was conducted in Klaksvík,
Tvøroyri and Vágur with the primary aim of providing back-
ground information for a broader survey which included socio-
paediatric studies in the Northern region. This paper concerns
the results of the anthropological and genetic survey which
was the most extensive of its kind to have been carried out in
the Faroes. Each individual who took part in the study supplied
basic family data which included name, date of birth, place
of birth and birth places of parents and grandparents. This
information enabled the selection of subjects of ‘pure’ Faroese
ancestry which was essential for a study of this type. The ob-
jectives of the survey were to examine the biological relation-
ships between the Faroe Islanders and other populations of
North West Europe and secondly to look for possible genetic
differences between the people from different regions of the
islands. Investigations included anthropometry (the scientific
measurement of the human body), dermatoglyphics (the study
of finger prints), the measurement of skin colour, the collection
of hair samples for the determination of hair colour and tests
for colour vision deficiency. It is with the preliminary analysis