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| ] is a racial classification usually used as part of a system also including ], ], ], and sometimes others such as ]. | ] is a racial classification usually used as part of a system also including ], ], ], and sometimes others such as ]. | ||
| == Geographic scope == | == Geographic scope == | ||
| ] defines ] with a pattern of physical traits typical of humans indigenous to an area centered on ], the ], and ]. Populations near the edge of this area in ] show features transitional between ] and ], while much of ] shows features transitional between ] and ]. Populations of ] have ], ] (some views also distinguish other indigenous physical types such as ]), and less often ] traits. Occasionally populations in distant areas, such as the ], have been said to have some ] physical traits, but in overall ] they have been found to resemble their immediate neighbors. | ] defines ] with a pattern of physical traits typical of humans indigenous to an area centered on ], the ], and ]. Populations near the edge of this area in ] show features transitional between ] and ], while much of ] shows features transitional between ] and ]. Populations of ] have ], ] (some views also distinguish other indigenous physical types such as ]), and less often ] traits. Occasionally populations in distant areas, such as the ], have been said to have some ] physical traits, but in overall ] they have been found to resemble their immediate neighbors. | ||
| == Semantic scope == | == Semantic scope == | ||
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Revision as of 03:42, 5 December 2005
Caucasoid is a racial classification usually used as part of a system also including Australoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and sometimes others such as Capoid.
Geographic scope
Physical anthropology defines Caucasoid with a pattern of physical traits typical of humans indigenous to an area centered on Europe, the Mediterranean, and West Asia. Populations near the edge of this area in North Africa show features transitional between Caucasoid and Negroid, while much of Central Asia shows features transitional between Caucasoid and Mongoloid. Populations of South Asia have Caucasoid, Australoid (some views also distinguish other indigenous physical types such as Veddoid), and less often Mongoloid traits. Occasionally populations in distant areas, such as the Ainu, have been said to have some Caucasoid physical traits, but in overall genetics they have been found to resemble their immediate neighbors.
Semantic scope
The term Caucasoid is most used in discussions of human prehistory and in the forensic analysis of human remains. The suffix -oid indicates "a similarity, not necessarily exact, to something else". Caucasoid, therefore, may not automatically imply Caucasian - whatever the parameters for the definition(s) of Caucasian may be.
Caucasoid does not apply to contemporary or historic definitions of racial or social groups; please see Whites and Caucasian race for those. Use of Caucasoid in these contexts may be seen as assertion of an essentialist viewpoint that contemporary or historic racial differences are biologically determined, or may simply be an imprecise attempt to use a more scientific-sounding synonym for Caucasian.
Racial classification and even the existence of race is controversial. Please see Race, Validity of human races, Race (historical definitions), Scientific racism, and Afrocentrism for discussion of these subjects.
Although Caucasoids are by and large descendants of earlier Negroid groups and emerged after most of the other Eurasian groups. Many leading scientists paradoxically defines those outside of the strict Classical Negro grouping as being of Caucasoid origin, implying an "out of Europe" theory. When Negroid people are pre-defined within anthropology under a very narrow scope, many mixed groups (ex Ethiopians, East Indians,) who are not directly descendant from West African types are therefore considered to be part of a semantically wider and more diverse Caucasoid supergroup. In many circles, Caucasoids "with Negroid admixture" are known to reach as far south into Africa as Rwanda, and East Indians of any complexion are examples of the wide variety of Caucasoid diversity. In other schools of thought, Negroids "with Caucasoid admixture" place Negroid people as far north as Italy and Greece in antiquity, and also encompassing much, perhaps most of India. There is considerable debate as to where a reasonable boundary between "Negroid with Caucasoid admixture" ends and "Caucasoid with Negroid admixture" begins. The former relies on the fact that the original humans were anatomically identical to modern Negroids, and that most indigenous people in Asia reasonably fit this description, and thus, they merely adapted to varying degress to their surroundings, founded their own civilizations along the coasts of Indian Ocean. The latter relies on early historical relationships to a theorized Caucasoid ancestral circle that branched out more agressively at some point, establishing the civilizations that border the Indian Ocean from Africa to Australia.
According to Bert Thompson if a breakdown by percentages of the world’s population were attempted, the groups would look like this: Caucasoid, 55%; Mongoloid, 33%; Negroid, 8%; Australoid, 4%. This would invariably include practically all of the people north of the southern border of the Sahara desert, everyone in Latin America and Southern Asia.
Skeletal and genetic traits
Caucasoids present the lowest degree of projection of the alveolar bones which contain the teeth, a notable size prominence of the cranium and forehead region, and a projection of the midfacial region; these show some similarity to certain Neanderthal traits, though the currently dominant single-origin hypothesis excludes any Neanderthal descent for modern humans.
Some studies of genetic similarity find Caucasoids to be part of a Eurasian Supercluster that includes Eastern Eurasians, Pacific Islanders and the peoples of the Americas and Greenland. Other studies place Mongoloids as closer to the Australoids; then these two next cluster with Caucasoids before joining Negroids.
Carleton S. Coon's book "The Races of Europe" classified Caucasoids into subraces named after regions or archeological sites such as Brünn, Borreby, Alpine, Ladogan, East Baltic, Neo-Danubian, Lappish, Mediterranean, Atlanto-Mediterranean, East African, Irano-Afghan, Nordic, Hallstatt, Keltic, Tronder, Dinaric, Noric and Armenoid. This extremely typological view of race was, even at the time of publication in 1939, becoming seen as very much out of date among anthropologists.
See also
- Caucasian race
- Negroid
- Mongoloid
- Australoid
- Capoid
- Race (historical definitions)
- Extra-European Caucasoid
External links
- Caucasoid Subraces Classification by Carleton S. Coon.