Novokaledon anthropological type

Kanaki from the Loyalty Islands (1906, left) and from New Caledonia (1880, right)

Novokledonsky anthropological type - one of the variants of the Melanesian race . Represented among the Kanaks - the aboriginal population of New Caledonia ^{[1] [2]} . It is distinguished among others in the classification of G. F. Debets , in which the Novokaledonian, together with the Papuan and the Melanesian proper anthropological types, is included in the Melanesian minor race of the oceanic branch of the large negro-australloid race ^[3] .

Compared with other types of melanesoids, the New Caledonian anthropological type is characterized by a somewhat greater similarity of its features with the peculiarities of the Australoid and Tasmanian races . In general, the representatives of the Novokaledonian type have such differences from other populations of the Melanesian race, as ^{[1] [2]} :

• the spread of narrow and moderately curly black hair ;
• stronger developed tertiary hair on the body;
• relatively thick lips and a wide mouth;
• more sloping forehead and strongly developed ;
• highly developed prognathism ;
• relatively narrow face ;
• extremely wide nose with flattened nose;
• higher height ;
• more massive physique .

The inhabitants of the Loiret Islands , in whom there is an insignificant admixture of the Polynesian race, are somewhat different from the other novokedontsy ^[4] .

According to some researchers, which anthropologist S. V. Drobyshevsky cites in his articles, most of the anthropological features of the Novokaledonian type fit well into the range of variability of signs of other melanosoids, and the distribution of some features among the Kanaks is not statistically confirmed, therefore the natives of New Caledonia are most likely not form an anthropologically separate group ^[4] . Similar conclusions have been made regarding the actual Melanesian, Negritos and Papuan anthropological types. Based on this, it is concluded that the selection of the Novokaledon anthropological variant, like the selection of the remaining variants of the Melanesian race, should be considered to be largely relative and conditional ^[5] .

The similarity of the Novokedonyts with the Tasmanians and the Australian Aborigines is interpreted by some researchers as a close genetic relationship of these ethnic communities . There are versions that the original population of New Caledonia, Tasmania and Australia once had common ancestors. Moreover, there are versions that Tasmanians and Australians could have come from immigrants from New Caledonia (there is a hypothesis of settling Tasmania on islands east of Australia, including the islands of New Caledonia). Meanwhile, archaeological data, according to which New Caledonia was settled relatively late, and genetic studies indicate a more likely convergent development of similar anthropological characteristics of Tasmanians, Australoids, and Novokedondons. It is also possible that the emergence of some features of the Novokedonits could have had a mestization with representatives of the Polynesian race ^{[6] [7] [8]} .