Description:
Sudanid variety with shorter skulls than Sudanids proper, and several other unique features that set it apart from other neighbouring groups. Similar to the Casamance type, but taller and wider-faced. Found in its purest form in Bobo-Fing and Bobo-Dyula in the Upper Volta region of Burkina Faso and Mali, also in Dogon, Senufo, and Songhai. In low frequencies across West Africa e.g. in Casamance and Ashanti.Physical Traits:
Dark brown, sometimes black skin, usually kinky hair. Tall, (hyper-)brachyskelic, mesomorph. Mesocephalic, mildly hypsicranic. (Hyper-)platyrrhine, relatively short nose that is lower in women. The face is large with a large mouth and bulging lips. Occiput and prognathy are usually pronounced. Body hair extremely weak.Literature:
Identified within the "atypical groups" of the Sudano-Guinean region by Pales and St-Péreuse (1953) as the "Bobo type". Also illustrated by Chabeuf (1959), who studied relationships to types further East. Grotanelli (1967) described it as a mesocephalised Sudanid, Leschi (1958) found the same anthropometric combinations in Dogon.
