# Mediterranean distinctions in facial features



## hots_towel (Oct 24, 2013)

So in my story, there are 4 ethnic groups of people based on mediterranean cultures during roughly the 14th century. The ethnic groups are Turkish people, Greek people, Italian people, and Southern French people. What I would like to know is, what are some general distinctions between each of these groups of people. How would you go about describing them in how they look different from each other? 

Back when I was in high school (you know, and I thought I knew everything) I remember thinking that you could take a person from spain, france, italy, and greece, and they could all pass for natives of each other's countries. By now I'm sure that's false, but is there a possibility that maybe they arent too far off from each other?


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## Jabrosky (Oct 24, 2013)

I remember a message board called ForumBiodiversity where the posters were obsessed with these sorts of physical distinctions, classifying them into a vast number of pseudo-scientific racial categories that ended with -ic or -id. However that forum has gone down recently.

Maybe this alternative on DeviantArt might help?


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## deilaitha (Oct 24, 2013)

People groups tend to be identifiable by region rather than country.  However, even then there are distinctions within the groups--generally only noticeable by the people of that group.  For example, in Africa there was a mass genocide against an entire people group--if a person of European heritage looked at those two side by side, our first thought would be 'what's the difference?'  However, once someone pointed out that the noses of one group were flatter than the other, and the brow more prominent, it became clear.  Yes, the genocide was based on the belief that these physical differences marked these people as evil.  It was a terribly sad thing. 

So: a person from Turkey could probably tell you if someone else is Italian, Spanish, or Grecian. However, you might not be able to see the difference.  

I hope that helped. Sorry if it didn't.


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## CupofJoe (Oct 24, 2013)

deilaitha said:


> People groups tend to be identifiable by region rather than country.  However, even then there are distinctions within the groups--generally only noticeable by the people of that group.  For example, in Africa there was a mass genocide against an entire people group--if a person of European heritage looked at those two side by side, our first thought would be 'what's the difference?'  However, once someone pointed out that the noses of one group were flatter than the other, and the brow more prominent, it became clear.  Yes, the genocide was based on the belief that these physical differences marked these people as evil.  It was a terribly sad thing.
> 
> So: a person from Turkey could probably tell you if someone else is Italian, Spanish, or Grecian. However, you might not be able to see the difference.
> 
> I hope that helped. Sorry if it didn't.


I suppose that in some form it's like accents. If you are from the [north of the] UK then Liverpool and Manchester [and twenty other towns and cities] have distinctive accents but to a non-local they all might just sound "Northern" or even just "English".


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## deilaitha (Oct 24, 2013)

CupofJoe said:


> I suppose that in some form it's like accents. If you are from the [north of the] UK then Liverpool and Manchester [and twenty other towns and cities] have distinctive accents but to a non-local they all might just sound "Northern" or even just "English".



Indeed. I can't tell the difference between Alabama and Texas accents, but apparently there is one.


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## hots_towel (Oct 24, 2013)

deilaitha said:


> People groups tend to be identifiable by region rather than country.  However, even then there are distinctions within the groups--generally only noticeable by the people of that group.  For example, in Africa there was a mass genocide against an entire people group--if a person of European heritage looked at those two side by side, our first thought would be 'what's the difference?'  However, once someone pointed out that the noses of one group were flatter than the other, and the brow more prominent, it became clear.  Yes, the genocide was based on the belief that these physical differences marked these people as evil.  It was a terribly sad thing.
> 
> So: a person from Turkey could probably tell you if someone else is Italian, Spanish, or Grecian. However, you might not be able to see the difference.
> 
> I hope that helped. Sorry if it didn't.


oh yes, it was very helpful (and very informative). thank you for your input. 

And Jabrosky, thanks for the link. Also very helpful


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