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Caucasoid is a technical term used in anthropology, archaeology, and genetics to describe the general physical type of people today indigenous to Europe, North Africa, Southwest Asia and South Asia, whether considered to be merely a phenotype, or a genotype.

It is equivalent or partly equivalent to the less technical term Caucasian race, and partly equivalent to the term white race in general English use.

The term is controversial among some academics today who relegate all distinct descriptions of human physical type to 19th Century racism — but nonetheless is still to be found in quite mainstream contexts, such as this quote from a 2008 The New York Times article on the Tocharian mummies:

"It's very clear that these are of Europoid or Caucasoid origins," Han, now retired, said in an interview in his apartment in Beijing.¹

See also

• For the use of "Caucasoid" as a term in physical anthropology, see the articles: Caucasian race and Races of physical anthropology.
• For the use of Caucasoid as a term in classifying different major phenotypes in humans see cline.
• For an overview of the genetic history of human populations with a specific focus on the utility (or not) of various "racial" classification schemes, see the article: human population history.
• For a more focused genetic history of indigenous European populations, see Genetic History of Europe.
• For an explanation of the meaning of "Caucasoid" as a skull type in craniometry, see the article: Craniofacial Anthropometry.
• For an explanation of how forensic anthropologists determine if a skull is of the "Caucasoid" type, see Usage in Forensics.
• For a specific example of how to determine the "racial" type of a skull, see Example of "Racial" Determination.
• For an explanation of Human genetic variation, see that article.
• For an overview of the different Social interpretations of race, see that article.
• For a large overall survey of the utility (or not) of the "race" notion in current thought, see the article: Race.
• For an explanation of what is meant by the phrase "white people," see that article.

References

External links

• Caucasoid Subraces Classification by Carleton S. Coon.