Cranial Variation of the Mongoloid Race and its Geographic distribution

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2022-2/226-238

Abstract

The large Mongoloid race is usually divided into three small ones: northern, eastern and southern Mongoloids. These three racial divisions were studied according to the special craniometric program. The material of the study consisted of 116 published modern cranial samples (52 northern, 42 eastern and 22 southern Mongoloid samples) using 11 metric traits of the absolute size and shape of the cranium. These traits were used to assign the samples to the categories within our cranial classification. The absolute majority of the northern Mongoloid cranial samples were classified as Golarktids. They are characterized by average or large crania sizes and the lowest vault among all Mongoloid samples. The crania of eastern Mongoloids, being of approximately the same size, have higher vault than the northern Mongoloids and are usually mesocranial. According to our craniological classification, they are Pacifids. Only 5 of 42 samples cannot be attributed to this type. Two samples of northern Chinese and the Hui sample (Chinese Muslims of Xinjiang) occupy intermediate position between Pacifids and Golarktids. The two brachycranial Korean samples with high vaults cannot be attributed to any of these types. The southern Mongoloids turned out to be more complicated in craniological terms. Samples from the eastern part of the territory are similar to eastern Mongoloids in shape, but much smaller in size, and thus can be considered a small version of the Pacifid type. But the western samples of the southern Mongoloids are mainly presented by a local type of Sundids, who differ from both Golarktids and Pacifids. Sundids have short, wide and medium-high crania, the smallest among Mongoloids. Interestingly, our Korean samples have a very similar shape of the crania, but much larger in size. The local cranial type of Sundids is isolated on its modern territory. From the north and east there is a zone where the Pacifid type dominates, and the northwest (Indian subcontinent) and southeast (Australia and Western Oceania) areas are inhabited by the Tropid populations of a completely different cranial type.