Who Are The Australoid Race?
The Australoid is a racial a classification that is used in reference to the people of Southeast Asia, South Asia, Melanesia, Australia, and other regions in East Asia. The idea of the Australoid race came because of the typological racial classification. South Asia’s race of Veddoid race, which includes the eponymous Vedda people of Sri Lanka, have dark skin and wavy hair while the Melanesian ethnic group has straight and kinky hair. They are thought to have migrated from Africa and settled in Southeast Asia. Research has shown that most of the southern mongoloid peoples have the Australo-Melanesian gene in their genetic heritage.
Physical Features
In 2004, forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkenson wrote that Australoid possesses the second biggest brow ridges and their supraorbital ridges ranging between moderate and large. They are characterized as dolichocephalic which means that they are long-headed. They have black, curly and silky hair while some of them have straight hair. They have chocolate skin color, and their irises are black or brown. The Australoids have large and massive jaws, but the teeth arrangement is standard.
Migration Hypothesis of the Australoid Race
There has been evidence of skulls of the Australoid race found in some regions of the Americas, a clear indication that the Australoid race could have been some of the first people to settle in the Americas. They are thought to have migrated from Africa and ended in Southeast Asia. This migration is evidenced by the research of archaeologist Walter Neves from the University of Sao Paulo that indicates that the predecessors of the Luzia woman whose skull remains were found were in Southeast Asia and had lived there for thousands of years. It is, therefore, possible that after coming out of Africa, they went through the Americas before settling in the regions of South East Asia. However, further research by other archeologists suggests that these could be Native Americans whose genes drifted over the years leading to the facial variability, cranial plasticity, and among other factors.
History
The Australoid was classified as a race towards the end of the late 19th century by Thomas Huxley when he classified races into four groups namely the Mongoloid, Negroid, Xanthochroic, and Australoid. Huxley made the conclusion that the races in the Mediterranean region known as the Melanochroi showed a mix of the eastern Europeans and the Australoids races. Research has shown that most of the southern mongoloid people have the Australo-Melanesian gene in their genetic heritage. The Australoid people mixed with other races over the continent in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Japan, Australia, Melanesia, Singapore, and Thailand among other areas. The proto-Australoids who are the ancestors of the Australoids, are thought to have been among the first group to migrate from Africa in 60,000 BCE. The migration is believed to have occurred along the submerged continental shelf of the north shore of the Indian Ocean they arrived in Australia in 50,000 BCE. However, different researchers and archeologists have their explanations as to how the Australoids got to where they are today.
