#pygmie

CATHARINE AHEARN Skull Hunt on Pygmie Island, 2015 linen, gouache, spray-paint, plexiglass 124.46 x 154.94 cm / 49” x 61” CA201506

A burial ground of pygmies was discovered in 1837 near Coshocton, Ohio.  The skeletons were from 3 to 4 1/2 feet long and seemed to have been buried in wooden coffins.  No artifacts were found by which the culture of the pygmies might be dated, but he number of graves led observers to suppose that they must have been tenants of a considerable city. 

Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually short; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult men grow to less than 150 cm (4 feet 11 inches) in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed "pygmoid." The best known pygmies are the Aka, Efé and Mbuti of central Africa. There are also pygmies in Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil. The term also includes the Negritos of Southeast Asia. The term "pygmy" is sometimes considered pejorative. However, there is no single term to replace it. Many so-called pygmies prefer instead to be referred to by the name of their various ethnic groups, or names for various interrelated groups such as the Aka (Mbenga), Baka, Mbuti, and Twa. The term Bayaka, the plural form of the Aka/Yaka, is sometimes used in the Central African Republic to refer to all local Pygmies. Likewise, the Kongo wordBambenga is used in Congo.