Caspian race

{{Short description|Obsolete race concept}}

The Caspian race was a supposed sub-race of the Caucasian race in the context of a now-outdated model of dividing humanity into different races which was developed originally by Europeans in support of colonialism.For the model of dividing humanity into races, see {{cite web|author=American Association of Physical Anthropologists |author-link=American Association of Physical Anthropologists |title=AAPA Statement on Race and Racism |website=American Association of Physical Anthropologists |access-date=19 June 2020 |date=27 March 2019 |url=https://physanth.org/about/position-statements/aapa-statement-race-and-racism-2019/ |quote=Instead, the Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination.}} The term was used by M. G. Abdushelishvili (1979) as constituting a branch of the Mediterranean race or Irano-Afghan race.{{cite book |last=A. Stini |first=William |year=1979 |title=Physiological and Morphological Adaptation and Evolution |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9783110803105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4w2hiuK1sOsC |access-date=2013-04-02}} In Soviet-era anthropology, the term was used to include Tats and Azerbaijanis.Contributions to the physical anthropology of the Soviet Union by Viktor Valerianovich Bunak, {{year needed|date=December 2017}}{{clarify|date=December 2017}} page 14

The Caspian race was said to be prevalent among the Azerbaijanis,{{cite book|author=N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology|author-link=N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology|script-title=ru:Народы Кавказа|publisher=USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EYMAQAAMAAJ&q=Каспийский+тип+Азербайджанцы|location=Moscow|year=1960|pages=29|access-date=July 5, 2019|language=ru}}{{Cquote|quote=Азербайджанцы. Несмотря на значительные различия отдельных этнографических групп азербайджанцев по форме головы, в остальных признаках они сравнительно мало различаются между собой. Повсеместно преобладает каспийский тип и только в северных районах может быть прослежена некоторая примесь элементов кавкасионского типа.}}{{cite book |author=T.F. Aristova |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-ALAAAAIAAJ&q=обследовались |publisher=Nauka |year=1990 |pages=13 | isbn=9785020164284 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Материальная культура курдов XIX-первой половины XX в: проблема традиционно-культурной общности |access-date=July 5, 2019}}{{Cquote

| quote = Закавказские курды антропологически обследовались известным советским ученым М. Г. Абдушелишвили [13] в Тбилиси, а также в Апаранском районе Армянской ССР и Лачинском районе Азербайджанской ССР. М. Г. Абдушелишвили относит курдов, равно как и азербайджанцев, к каспийскому типу,

}}{{cite book |author=N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=et8KAAAAIAAJ&q=каспийский |publisher=Nauka |year=1973 |pages=56 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Расы и народы |author-link=N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology |access-date=July 5, 2019}}{{Cquote

| quote = Аналогичным образом белуджи, курды, таты-мусульмане сближаются антропологически с азербайджанцами (каспийский тип)

}} Kumyks and Tsakhurs.{{Cite book|author=L.M. Minz|title=The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley |publisher=Olma Media Group|year=2007 |pages=282, 288, 454, 493 |isbn=978-5-373-01053-5 }}{{Cite book|author=W.P. Alekseev.|script-title=ru:Избранное: Происхождение народов Кавказа |publisher=Наука |year= 2009 |pages= 229|isbn=978-5-02-035547-7 |language=ru}}

Genrietta Leonidovna Khit said that as a form of racial admixture the Caspian subtype was represented among Turkmens and Talyshs.{{Cite book|author=Khitʹ, G. L. (Genrietta Leonidovna Khitʹ) |title= Dermatoglyphics of the USSR Peoples (Dermatoglifika narodov SSSR) |publisher=Наука |year=1983 |oclc=654385877 |language=ru}}