Review of the literature

Research today holds that the Lapps form an ethnic group that invaded Scandinavia from the eastern parts of Central Europe, probably already during the f i n d phase of the glacial period, when they followed the retreating ice blanket and wild reindeer herds towards the northwest. Archaeological prehistoric finds, e.g. of skis estimated to be about 4000 years old, suggest that the Skolts at that time already populated the coasts of the Arctic Ocean (Nickul 1970). A number of archaeologists believe that the ancestors of the Lapps had originated from a mixed group which included people belonging to the oldest known Scandinavian Stone Age culture, the so-called Komsa culture (Wiklund, cited by Nickul 1970). Linguistically, the position of Lappish is uncertain. The language is, presumably, in part a relic which has, however, been strongly influenced by the earlier Baltic Sea Finnish. Anthropometrically, Skolt Lapps are characterized by short stature and certain special features of skull 'tructure and facial form which suggest kinship with East European or Mongolian peoples. Some of these special features, especially the height growth, depend, however, not only on genetic factors but largely also on external circumstances, food supply etc. (Lewin and HedegPrd 1971). Serologic studies show gene frequencies that suggest both an >>Eastern>> and a >>Western>> influence. Variations within the different Lapp groups can, however, be considerable. The frequency of blood group A is high among the Lapps, the gene A, having a frequency 2-4 times that among the other Scandinavians, in whom the frequency is about 5-10 yo. In no other population has an equally high frequency of the gene Aa been recorded. Also, the Lapps have an extremely high frequency of the erythrocyte-acid phosphatase gene P which is completely non-existent among the East Asiatic peoples studied to date. These characteristics suggest a Western influence in the Lapps' origin. An Eastern influence issuggested by the fact that the frequency of the d-gene in the Rhesus blood group system in all Lapp populations studied to date is markedly lower than among other Europeans. Furthermore, it has been found that the frequency of blood group B increases eastward, and so does that of gene M in the MNS system. On this point there are variations within the Lapp groups. The Skolt Lapps show both a high frequency of gene B and a relatively high frequency of gene M, whereas the frequency is on the low side among the other Lapp groups (Eriksson 1967, 1968, 1971, Eriksson et al. 1970)