Description:
Relatively recent contact type of the Western Sahara. Probably formed during Antiquity when aboriginal Berber populations mixed with older West Ethiopid elements. Today most common in Mauritania. Also found in Morocco, especially in coastal cities, Senegal, Mali, and Niger. Typified by the Moors, although the term has been applied to different populations as well. Also in Nemadi, occasionally in Tuareg or Fulani.Physical Traits:
Bronze brown skin, wavy to tight-curly hair. Medium height, mildly brachyskelic, mesomorph to ectomorph. Dolichocephalic, orthocranic, and relatively low faced. The nose is pointed and of variable width, often mildly leptorrhine. Lips are thick. Not stabilised with variable features.Literature:
The contact zone has sometimes been placed in Ethiopid (Eickstedt, 1943; Alcobé y Noguer, 1952). However this was often criticised (e.g. Baker, 1981). Moors were frequently placed in their own group (Pales, 1953; Biasutti, 1967), usually as a contact type.
