TheDinaric race, also known as theAdriatic race, werepseudoscientific terms used by certainphysical anthropologists in the early to mid-20th century[1][2][3] to describe the perceived predominantphenotype of the contemporary ethnic groups ofsoutheast Europe. According to the discredited theories of physical anthropologistCarleton Coon, the Dinaric race was most commonly found among the populations in theBalkans andCarpathians, such asMontenegrins,Serbs,Bosniaks,Croats,Ghegs,Slovaks,Romanians,Hungarians,Western Ukrainians, and SouthernPoles.[4] Additionally, inNorthern Europe, theSouth Germans were also identified[by whom?] as having Dinaric characteristics.[5]
The notion of a Dinaric race originated withracial anthropologistJoseph Deniker in the late 19th century, but became most closely associated with the writings ofCarleton S. Coon andNazi eugenicistHans F. K. Günther. The term was derived from theDinaric Alps (the western part ofSoutheastern Europe) which was supposed to be the principal habitat of the race.[citation needed]
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Several pseudoscientific theories were advanced regarding the genesis of the Dinaric race. Günther argued that the Dinaric race shared a common origin with the Hither Asiatic (Near Eastern) race in theCaucasus region. They left the Caucasus region and underwentselective pressure, with the Dinaric race eventually possessing mental traits similar to theNordic race.Jan Czekanowski believed that the Dinaric race arose from admixture between the Nordic andArmenoid race.[6]
Coon also argued, however, inThe Origin of Races (1962), that the Dinaric and some other categories "are not races but simply the visible expressions of the genetic variability of the intermarrying groups to which they belong."
He referred to the creation of this distinctivephenotype from the mixing of earlier separate groups as "dinaricisation". In his view Dinarics were a specific type that arose from ancient mixes of theMediterranean race andAlpine race.
According to the Dinaric model, Dinarics were to be found mainly in the mountainous areas of southeastern Europe:Albania,Kosovo,Montenegro,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Serbia,Slovenia,Austria, part of northwesternBulgaria, and northwesternNorthern Macedonia. Northern and easternItaly was considered mostly a Dinaric area as well as westernGreece,Romania,Moldova, westernUkraine, southeasternGerman-speaking areas, and parts of southeasternFrance.[citation needed]
TheNoric race (German:Norische Rasse) was a racial category proposed by the anthropologist Victor Lebzelter. The "Noric race" was supposed to be a sub-type of the Dinaric race moreNordic in appearance than standard Dinaric peoples.[7] The term derived fromNoricum, a province of theRoman Empire roughly equivalent to southernAustria and northernSlovenia.[8]
Germans were predominantly Nordic , while the southern Germans belonged to the Alpine and Dinaric races