The Bushman Maxillary Canine of the Chewa Tribe in East-Central Africa

Abstract

The expression of the Bushman Canine dental trait among the Chewa tribe of East-Central Africa is described and compared with that of other African populations. Dental hard stone casts were obtained from 82 males and 76 females, and the trait was scored using the Arizona State University dental plaque system. No significant sexual dimorphism in the occurrence of the trait was found according to the chi-square test. The frequency of the Bushman Canine in the Chewa is markedly lower than that in a sample of San (Bushman) from Botswana. This helps support the view that the San represent either an ancestral or perhaps a different stock of people in comparison to other sub-Saharan Africans. When comparing the Chewa with a Central Sotho sample from South Africa, it appears that a gradient of the trait's frequency exists with decreasing expression from south to north. This gradient is probably caused by admixture between San and other peoples (mainly Bantuspeakers) who may not have originally possessed the trait. These findings agree with the so-called "Bantu-expansion" model proposed by several workers.