Dinaric race
|
|
In physical anthropology, the Dinaric race is one of the Europid (White, Caucasoid) races, and it is endemic primarily to the Dinaric Alps (the western part of the Balkan Peninsula).
Its characteristics are tall, mostly mesomorph bodily build, with relatively long legs and short trunk and a medium arm span. The overall anatomy of the head is brachycephalic to hyperbrachycephalic (Cranial index: 81-86) whereby the condition is caused by both rather high breadth of the head and a medium length of the neurocranium, whose back part is often somewhat flattened (planoccipital). The vertical height of the cranium is high. Eyes are set relatively close and the surrounding tissue defines them as wide open. The iris is most often brown, with a significant percentage of light pigmentation in the Dinaric population. The nose is large, narrow and convex. The face is long and orthognathic, with a prominent chin, and also wide. The form of the forehead is variable, but not rarely it is bulbous. The hair color is usually dark brown, with black haired and blond individuals in minority, blondness being the characteristic of the more Central European, morphologically similar Noric race.
The skin is lacking the rosy color characteristic for Northern Europe as well as the relatively brunet pigmentation characteristic for the southernmost Europe and on a geographical plane it is of medium pigmentation and often it is variable.
Several theories have been postulated regarding the genesis of the Dinaric race and most of them agree that this race is autochthonous to its present habitat from the Neolithic. The Bell-Beaker people of the European Bronze Age were at least partially Dinaric.
Dinarics are distributed in the mountainous areas of the western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, most of northwestern Bulgaria, northwestern Republic of Macedonia and northern Albania). Northern Italy is a Dinaric area. Dinarics are common element in western Greece, Romania, eastern Ukraine, southeastern German-speaking areas, and they are also present in parts of southern Poland and southeastern France.
Alternative terms are "Adriatic" and "Epirotic" race.