Dinarics in western asia: I

In Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia, the Caucasus, and Turkestan the reemergence of a basic Alpine population has Dinaricized the local brunet Mediterranean types shown on Plates 17 and 18. These Asiatic Dinarics arc usually called Armenoids, although the distinction is arbitrary, and in the strict sense only the Armenians themselves and others who live in the east deserve that name.

Fig. 1 (3 views). A Turk from Istanbul. Small-headed, hyperbrachycephalic, this individual is an extreme type of Dinaricized Anatolian Turk. The Turks are (a) Medi­terraneans of local Cappadocian origin, and (b) intrusive Irano-Afghans, the invading Turkish element proper, Dinaricized by a local Alpine reemergence. The westernmost Turks are fair to brunet-white in skin color, the eastern Turks grow progressively darker as one approaches Kurdish and Armenian territory.

Fig. 2 (3 views). An equally brachycephalic Turk from Khozat, Anatolia, with a strong trace of eye blondism.

Fig. 3 (3 views). A dark-skinned Turk from Kharput, eastern Anatolia. Kharput is also the home of many Armenians.

Fig. 4 (3 views). An Assyrian from the mountains south of Armenia; the Assyrians are Christians who moved into the mountains from Iraq some 600 years ago, and who are now as brachycephalic as Armenians. Their exact ethnic origin is difficult to de­termine.

Dinarics in western asia: II

Fig. 1 (3 views). A Syrian from Damascus; a perfect example of a Syrian Dinaric. The Syrians, who are, as a whole, highly Dinaricized, contain Mediterranean elements of Arabian origin as well as the long-faced elements shown in Plates 17 and 18.

Fig. 2 (3 views). A Lebanese from Baalbek, Lebanese Republic. The Lebanese on the whole are more brachycephalic than the Damascenes; this individual is longer- headed than most, and inclines facially toward the Alpine prototype.

Fig. 3 (3 views). A Syrian from the district of Beka^ra, with a cephalic index of almost 100. His extraordinary shortness of the cranial vault must be partly due to cradling, a practice which has affected the head form of many Syrians, Armenians, and also probably some Albanians. Cradling, however, is not the causc of Dinaricization, but merely a factor which may intensify it.

Fig. 4 (3 views). A Druze from the Shuf district; facially this individual actually re­sembles the Yemenis from whom the Druzes as a whole claim descent. His extreme brachycephaly may be partly the result of cradling.

Armenoid armenians

Fig. 1 (3 views). An Armenian from Istanbul, facially a classic Armenoid type. Like many Armenians, he is dark-skinned.

Fig. 2 (3 views). An Armenian from Kharput. Note the extreme face length, a measurement which differentiates Armenians as a group from the shorter-faced Turks.

Fig. 3 (3 views). A tall, slender Armenian from Van; typical of the eastern Armenians, who are lighter-skinned, taller, and longer in all sagittal dimensions of the body, head and face than the western Armenians.

Fig. 4 (3 views). A Van Armenian with pinkish-white skin color, blue eyes, and me­dium brown hair; although hyperbrachycephalic, this individual shows evidence of the Nordic element which gave the Armenians their Indo-European language.