Middle Eastern Dinarics

[Loki]

Yet again, from Coon's Races of Europe

Plate 40
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 are 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.

[Loki]

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

[Loki]

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

[Loki]

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.

[Loki]

Plate 41
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.

[Loki]

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.

[Loki]

FIG. 3 (3 views). A Syrian from the district of Beka'a, 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 cause of Dinaricization, but merely a factor which may intensify it.

[Loki]

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.

[Tore]

What does cradling refer to?

The term refers to when an infant in placed on their backside for an extended period of time, by which the softness of the occipital region may be molded to yield a flattened occiput.

[Tore]

By the way: With spending 12-16 hours on the back while being asleep, and spending much time on the back, too, while being awake, do not all infants spend "extended periods of time" on the back?

I have pondered this as well and perhaps your definition in the last paragraph of your post makes more sense as to what defines 'cradling.'