The Mediterranean Face

Here is how German anthropologist Egon von Eickstedt defined the Mediterranean racial type:

The Mediterraneans represent, in their constitution, the most delicate and elegant, and also the most strongly pigmented of the European races. The features are more regular and harmonious than they are in the Nordics; the body, of low stature, is slender and well-proportioned, not stocky as in the Alpine race; the big and brilliant black eyes give to the face a vivacious expression.

The head is long and narrow, more than it is currently in the Nordics, but the cephalic index does not reach very low values because of the rounded form of the occiput. The face is also narrow, finely chiseled, of a regular oval shape, often attenuated towards the bottom. The nose is high-rooted and thin, but not taking the extreme forms in this sense which it assumes in the Nordics and Dinarics. The zygomatics are small and receding; the eyelashes are fuller than in other European races, the chin is solid and strong. The secondary sexual characters are very accentuated and develop precociously.

Here is a quite good example of the racial type in question (French-Moroccan Canadian actress):

And a nice Indian actress of Mediterranean morphological type:

Posted by Dienekes at February 22, 2003 11:15 PM | PermaLink