The Iranian Plateau race was defined chiefly by a high hooked nose
Evidence
From this research, Field, who became the official anthropologist to the US president, “distinguish[ed] a new, fundamental division of the White race,” called the Iranian Plateau race. As summarized in a 1941 review in American Anthropologist, “[The Iranian Plateau race] is distinguished mainly by a high hooked nose; its features as given are otherwise those of the classic Mediterranean, although it is definitely larger and more rugged in facial skeleton.” Comparing measurements from Aryan Iran against his earlier fieldwork done in Semitic Iraq, Field cited the overwhelming presence of “convex-nosed long-heads” in the Iranian population as evidence of whiteness. In strong language, Field summarized the implications of his research in Iran: “This new racial type, now for the first time, takes its place beside the Nordic, Mediterranean, and Alpine races.” — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 208
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s known material on how nose shape and physiognomy served as racial signifiers in early 20th-century science.
- CANDY: A single facial feature — the ‘high hooked nose’ — was enough to classify an entire people as a new division of the white race.