[Editor's note: Footnotes and references in the original are omitted.]
The Indo-Australian consists of four branches: Asian, Oceanic, Australian, and American.
Pre-Dravidians and Ainus (Paleoasiatics) make up the Asian branch.
Pre-Dravidians are found predominately in India with lesser numbers in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Malaya. They include the Veddas of Sri Lanka; Bhils, Gondi, and Khonds (Kandh) of north and central India; Bihors, Kolarians, and Oraons (Kurukh) of Chota Nagpur; Paniyan, Kadars, Uralis, Irulas, and Kurumbas of southern India; Toala of Celebes; and Che Wong of Pahang province in Malaysia. Pre-Dravidians account for only a small part of the population of the countries in which they are found. However, Pre-Dravidians account for a large part of the Indo-Austrian population.
Ainu are predominately found on Hokkaido Island, Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin Island. They are a principal type in northern Hokkaido Island and southern Sakhalin Island.
The Australian branch contains the Australian, Murrayian, and Carpentarian types. They are found in Australia. This branch comprises only a small part of the population of Australia. Murrayians inhabit south east Australia, and Carpentarians inhabit north and central Australia.
The Oceanic branch consists of Negritos (Oceanic Pygmies), Melanesians, and Papuans.
Negritos are found in small numbers on the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Philippine Islands, and New Guinea. They include the Aetas of the Philippines; Mantra, Saoch, Semang and Senoi (Sakai) of Malay Peninsula and east Sumatra; Tapiro of New Guinea; Andamanese (Mincopies) of the Andaman Islands; and Shompen of the Nicobar Isles.
Melanesians are found predominately along the coast of New Guinea and in the Melanesian Islands (Admiralty Islands to New Caledonia and Fiji). Except in Fiji where Melanochroi from India are now in the majority, Melanesians are generally a majority of the populations of the Pelew Islands, New Ireland, Solomon, New Britain and other islands of the Bismark Archipelago, New Hebrides, New Caladenia, and Loyalty Islands.
Papuans are the predominant population of New Guinea. They are also found in Aru, Flores, Solor, Adonara, Lomblen, Pantar, and Alor Islands of Indonesia.
Fuegians make up the American branch. They are found in Tierra del Fuego, along the Pacific coast of Chile, in Columbia, along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and in northern California. They consist of Yaghan (Yamana) and Alakaluf of Tierra del Fuego; Botocudos (Aimoré, Aymore) of Brazil; Chono of Columbia; and Piaroa, Goajiro, and Motilon of Colombia.
Before 1500 A.D. Indo-Australians inhabited parts of India, Sakhalin, and Hokkaido Islands, New Guinea, Melanesian Islands, Fiji, and all of Australia. Since then they have lost most of Australia to the Aryans. In Japan and Siberia, the Japanese, Russians, and Turanians of Siberia are pushing them to extinction. Although they still dominate New Guinea and many of the surrounding islands, they are losing Fiji to Melanochroi immigrants. Also, approaching extinction is the American branch.
The general physical characteristics of the Indo-Australian follow. Most of the information below and in Tables 1, 2, and 3 come from the works of Bean, Brinton, Comas, Coon, Deniker, Haddon, Hooten, Keane, and Nesturkh with minor input from various other sources.
Skin Color: dark brown, chocolate brown, nearly black
Hair Color: usually black
Head Hair: wavy, curly, or frizzy; some nearly straight
Facial Hair: variable, often strongly developed, some sparse
Body Hair: variable, often well developed, some sparse
Face: narrow and low; jaw project (prognathism); prominent cheeks; concave temples
Forehead: somewhat sloping with strongly developed supra-orbital (brow) ridge
Eyes: deep set, round
Eye Color: dark hazel, brown, dark brown
Nose: usually platyrrhine; short and broad; big with a low or medium bridge; very wide nostrils; bulbous tip; depressed at base
Lips: thick, full
Teeth: megadont; large
Chin: poorly developed
Head Shape: usually dolichocephalic, some mesocephalic
Body Characteristics: ectomorphy; similar to Aryans with longer and thinner limbs; elongated forearms and legs; skin when cut tends to form prominent, elevated sores or keloids
Stature: short or average
Table 1 describes the characteristics of the American branch (Fuegian) and Asian branches (Pre-Dravidian and Ainu). The characteristics of the Australian branch (Australian, Murrayian, Carpentarian) are described in Table 2. Table 3 describes the characteristics of the Oceanic branch (Melanesian, Papuan, and Negrito).
Among the extinct races of Indo-Australians are Grimaldi man, Brno man, and others of the Aurignacian culture (14,000 B.C.) in Europe. Grimaldi man was long-headed with a broad face and projecting jaw. He was medium height.
Of the American Branch, the Paleo-Indian (the Lagoa-Santa type and Punin type) is extinct. The Lagoa-Santa type ranged from Lower California to Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. This type had a small, hypsicephalic (very high) vault, dolichocephalic head; retreating forehead; well-developed brow ridge; a short wide face; a medium to broad nose; medium orbits; deep-set eyes; shovel shaped teeth; and an alveolar prognathic face or considerable prognathism.
Of the Oceanic branch, the Tasmanian became extinct in 1877. Tasmanians inhabited the island of Tasmania. They possessed the following characteristics: variable stature but generally short, very thin legs, small keel-shaped head, dolichocephalic, pentagonal face, narrow forehead with a well-developed brow ridge, very broad short nose with depressed root, broad and prognathic face, small and retreating chin, large teeth, quite fuzzy or woolly hair, black hair color, beard peppercorn around the border, almost black skin, small and deep-set eyes, conspicuously large ears with large lobs, full lips but not thick, large mouth, large teeth, and cranial capacity ranging between 1060 and 1430 cc, mostly about 1250 cc.
1. Dr. Robert B. Bean, The Races of Man: Differentiation and Dispersal of Man (New York, New York: The University Press, 1932), pp. 69.123.
2. Juan Comas, Manual of Physical Anthropology (English edition. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1960), p. 629.
3. A. C. Haddon, The Races of Man and Their Distribution (New York, New York: The Macmillian Company, 1925), pp.24, 142, 143. R. Ruggles Gates, Human Ancestry from a Genetical Point of View (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1948), 311.
4. Daniel G. Brinton, Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: David McKay, Publisher, ), p. 240. Comas, p. 651. J. Deniker,The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and Ethnography (London, England: Walter Scott, Limited, 1900), p. 432. Gates, p. 155. A. H. Keane, Man Past and Present (Revised by A. Hingston Quiggin and A. C. Haddon. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1920), pp. 159-160. Taylor 88-89.
Copyright © 2015 by Thomas Coley Allen.
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