The influence of economic behaviour and environment upon robusticity of the post‐cranial skeleton: a comparison of Australian Aborigines and other populations

The robusticity of the post cranial skeleton of Murray Valley Aborigines is compared to that of five other populations. This is done to clarify disagreements in the literature on the skeletal robusticity of Aborigines relative to other groups, particularly European Australians. It is concluded that rather than being more robust, the Aboriginal sample is far more gracile than the comparative samples. Economic behaviour, genetic effects and climate are examined as factors that affect skeletal robusticity. It is concluded that while all these factors have an effect, economic behaviour is important in determining robusticity differences between populations. The Murray Valley lifestyle evidently imposed comparatively little muscular and skeletal stress upon the Aboriginal population.