Description:
Very ancient phenotype native to the mountains of South India, common in isolated groups of Kanikkaran, Kadar, and Paniya. Mixed with Melanids in the Irula, Yanadi, Chenchu, and sometimes even Tamils. The purest Veddoid type of all, and probably one of the oldest phenotypes in the world. Several authors have suggested that Malids are more ancient than Negritids. A few thousand individuals remain today, mostly in isolated forests.Physical Traits:
Brown-blackish skin, curly, sometimes wavy hair. Short, mesoskelic, endo- to ectomorph. Dolichocephalic, sometimes hyperdolichocephalic, orthocranic, very small-headed. Mildly platyrrhine, depressed nose. Face very low, wide and rhomboid with a receding, pointed chin, deep set eyes, and often thick lips. Mild prognathy.Literature:
During his expeditions Eickstedt (1929, 1934, 1952c) defined the Malid type according to the Dravidian word for "mountain". Drexel (1955), Lundman (1967, 1988) kept the name. Biasutti named his Veddoid race "Malica" after this type (Biasutti, 1967).
