 | ||
The Irano-Afghan race (also known as the Iranid race) was a historical term for a physical type most common among populations native to the Iranian plateau. The Irano-Afghan type was classified as belonging to the greater Caucasian race. It was variously associated with either the Nordic subtype or the Mediterranean subtype, depending on the authority consulted.
Contents
Physiognomy
Carleton S. Coon in his The Races of Europe classifies the Indo-Afghans and Irano-Afghans as Nordic, describing them as being long-faced, high-headed and leptorrhine (having long and narrow noses). Bertil Lundman by contrast postulates an "Iranid" subtype of his "Eastern Mediterranean" race. Earnest Hooton in 1946 describes the "Iranian Plateau type" as distinct from the Atlanto-Mediterranean one:
particularly in its long, high-bridged, and boldly jutting nasal promontory. It has the same huge dolichocephalic head and massive, usually long face. The great nose may be either straight or convex, more often the latter.
According to Renato Biasutti the type was defined by:
Brunet-white color, very dark hair and eyes, abundant pilosity; medium stature (165), slim body; very long (74) and high head with prominent occiput; long face; large and high nose with root at the level of the forehead, straight or convex spine, strongly curved nostrils (64); full lips, robust chin.
John Lawrence Angel following Coon in 1971 discusses a "Nordic-Iranian type" in the following terms:
D1 lies between Anglo-Saxon and Keltic area norms, and D2 is the earlier pre-Bronze Age Corded form which Coon identifies. Type D3, lighter and more hawk-nosed, is transitional to the Mediterranean type B4 and to type D4 (Iranian), which is the Proto-Iranian of Vallois, Irano-Afghan of others, and Proto-Nordic of Krogman, and which is more linear and more rugged than D3 and has a more tilted chewing plane, more nasal convexity, and deeper occiput. Type D5 approximates Coon's Danubian-Halstatt and successor Central European forms.