Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Reduced(Alpinizied) Aethiopids from the Ethiopian highland plateau

The Highland Aethiopid variants (Robust & Gracile Aethiopid, Reduced Aethiopid & Central Aethiopid)are typical for the Semitic and Cushitic speaking inhabitants of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highland plateau. In the Eritrean highlands mostly represented by the Tigrinya and Tigray, in the Ethiopian highlands by the Gurage, Amhara, Oromo, Agew and Tigray.

The area of distribution; On the left a satellite picture of Ethiopia and on the right topographic map of the Horn of Africa:



An idyllic village in the Ethiopian highland plateau:


REDUCED AETHIOPID

Reduced(alpinizied) aethiopid type of short stature which is probably adapted to a sedentary farming life with poor animal protein and mainly vegetable diet. Short-headed (brachycephalic) and the morphology is reduced / infantile. A prominent example would be the previous Prime Minister of Ethiopia called Meles Zenawi.
There is no concrete anthropological information about these variants of the Highland Aethiopid spectrum, however we just know that these exist and that they are more common or typical in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highland plateau.

Group of Reduced Aethiopids: