# Humanities & Anthropology > Anthropology & Ethnography > Guess the Ethnicity >  Guess this man

## Angela

If you know, don't spoil it, and don't cheat...no need, it's pretty easy.

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## Hauteville

In the second photo remindes me of Giorgos Samaras.

So Greek?

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## Angela

> In the second photo remindes me of Giorgos Samaras.
> 
> So Greek?


I do see it in profile, but no, he isn't Greek. 

I wasn't sure about his origins when I first saw him, either.

When I said it was easy, I meant that I thought people would recognize him.

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## Ike

Luxembourg?

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## Templar

That actor is from the Hobbit movies. So I'm gonna say Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor).

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## Angela

> That actor is from the Hobbit movies. So I'm gonna say Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor).


I'm very tempted to issue an infraction for that thread disruption. Don't ever do that again.

In fact, I still might.

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## Angela

Aiden Turner...Irish actor...and in many pictures he looks southeastern European if not Near Eastern to me.




Only in certain pictures would I have guessed British Isles.

Attachment 7351

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## Hauteville

Could fit very well as Italian.

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## Angela

> Could fit very well as Italian.


Indeed, at least the way he looks from certain angles. The coloring is like Marco Mengoni's, but I think Mengoni has less rugged, more Med features, yes? 

'



Turner as Kili:

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## Maleth

> Aiden Turner...Irish actor...and in many pictures he looks southeastern European if not Near Eastern to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only in certain pictures would I have guessed British Isles.
> 
> Attachment 7351



It is not uncommon for Irish to have black hair (not in skin however) and also in Wales. Black Irish is a term used in the UK in reference to black haired Irish people (not as sub Saharan)

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## Maleth

This is Welsh Tom Ellis doing the part of a Spanish Barman in Mirandas Sitcom on BBC :)

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## Angela

[QUOTE]


> This is Welsh Tom Ellis doing the part of a Spanish Barman in Mirandas Sitcom on BBC :


Watching a BBC show is why I started wondering about Aiden Turner. I confess...I like romantic costume dramas.  :Smile:  In this case, they've just started showing "Poldark" on our local public broadcasting station. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jslnf

I don't think this specific kind of phenotype is particularly common anywhere in the British Isles, but it exists, and a good number of British actors seem to be drawn from that pool, at least the ones cast in fantasy and romance.

The casts of things like crime dramas seem to me to be more "typically" British, if a foreigner can even make such a judgment. I'm thinking of shows like "A Touch of Frost" or "Midsommer Murders", or "Endeavor".

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## Maleth

[QUOTE=Angela;461918]


> Watching a BBC show is why I started wondering about Aiden Turner. I confess...I like romantic costume dramas.  In this case, they've just started showing "Poldark" on our local public broadcasting station. 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jslnf
> 
> I don't think this specific kind of phenotype is particularly common anywhere in the British Isles, but it exists, and a good number of British actors seem to be drawn from that pool, at least the ones cast in fantasy and romance.
> 
> The casts of things like crime dramas seem to me to be more "typically" British, if a foreigner can even make such a judgment. I'm thinking of shows like "A Touch of Frost" or "Midsommer Murders", or "Endeavor".


you are correct but as a popular believe dark haired folks seem to be more common in Ireland and Wales and there were some myths about it too.


Welsh Tom Jones

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## Drac II

> I don't think this specific kind of phenotype is particularly common anywhere in the British Isles, but it exists


According to the British anthropologists of the 19th-20th century (Beddoe, Thurnam, Huxley, Phillips, etc.) these "darker" (compared to the more "Nordic" types) phenotypes are actually quite common, specially in the western parts of the British Isles.

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## JohnnieMc73

As a Scot this doesn't surprise me. When on holiday in Southern Europe I usually get mistaken for Spanish/Italian and peole are surprised when they find I am Scottish. Most Scots and Irish peole I know are dark and although we have more red heads than most countries they are still only a small percentage of the population. My ancestors came from various Hebridean Islands and if you look at old photos of the Islanders it would be easy to assume they were Italian/Greek/Spanish.

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## Drac II

> As a Scot this doesn't surprise me. When on holiday in Southern Europe I usually get mistaken for Spanish/Italian and peole are surprised when they find I am Scottish. Most Scots and Irish peole I know are dark and although we have more red heads than most countries they are still only a small percentage of the population. My ancestors came from various Hebridean Islands and if you look at old photos of the Islanders it would be easy to assume they were Italian/Greek/Spanish.


Anthropologists have pointed out that the Highlands (and also some of the large urban areas of the south, like Glasgow) is the area of Scotland where these "darker" types are more common, so I suppose they also included the islands to the west (Orkney Islands to the north would not qualify; this island is consistently said by anthropologists to be in fact the lightest pigmented area of Scotland.)

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## Angela

> According to the British anthropologists of the 19th-20th century (Beddoe, Thurnam, Huxley, Phillips, etc.) these "darker" (compared to the more "Nordic" types) phenotypes are actually quite common, specially in the western parts of the British Isles.


Please provide citations with page numbers showing the percentage of black/dark brown haired, brown eyed, dark skinned people in the British Isles.

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## Angela

I think there are a lot of dark-haired, light-eyed, fair-skinned (when not tan) people in the British Isles, and more so perhaps in the western parts of it. I also think there's a minority of dark-haired, dark-eyed and fair skinned people. Aiden Turner is different to my eyes, as is Tom Jones, in that they're not only dark-haired, dark-eyed and pretty olive skinned, but their features are different. Colin Farrell, for example, is dark in pigmentation, but I'd never guess him to be southern European, despite the coloring, whereas Turner puzzled me. I went to his bio page expecting to see foreign admixture, but it wasn't there. 








Apparently there was differentiation even in early periods because the Romans made a point of saying that the Silures of Wales looked like Iberians, but did not so describe the Celtic tribes further to the west.

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## Angela

As to Orcadians, this is what they look like...

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## JohnnieMc73

> Anthropologists have pointed out that the Highlands (and also some of the large urban areas of the south, like Glasgow) is the area of Scotland where these "darker" types are more common, so I suppose they also included the islands to the west (Orkney Islands to the north would not qualify; this island is consistently said by anthropologists to be in fact the lightest pigmented area of Scotland.)


Yes, I think Bryan Sykes mentioned something similar in The Blood of the Isles. I remember reading something about Beddoe's studies and he noted the propensity for dark hair and skin in the Scottish Higlands and Islands. Glasgow and the west of Scotland had a massive influx of Highlanders from the 18th century onwards so I could see why there may be a higher percentage of dark hair/skin. The Northern Isles would be less so due to the Norse influence.

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## JohnnieMc73

Some Scottish actors, to me examples of typical Scottish types.James Mcevoy.jpgGerard_Butler.jpgSean-Connery-as-James-Bond.jpgBroadchurch-david-tennant.jpg

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## Angela

Beddoe...this applies to the combination of dark hair and dark eyes...the darkest color is *20%* of the population:

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## Drac II

> As to Orcadians, this is what they look like...


More like this:



The Orkney Islands are well known to have had Scandinavian influence. It has been noticed (starting with Gray's pigmentation survey of Scotland in 1908) that they have a higher frequency of lighter features than most other areas of Scotland.

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## Angela

Here are all the actors who played the dwarves in the movie...a good number of dark haired and dark eyed Brits but only one or two, if that, look at all southern European. Quite an extraordinary number of bulbous noses too, even before make-up! :Grin: 

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/1.../photo/fili-2/

.

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## MOESAN

> This is Welsh Tom Ellis doing the part of a Spanish Barman in Mirandas Sitcom on BBC :)


I'm glad here because I cannot post photos; this man seems to me a good example of what would have been roughly the mean types of the 'Long Barrows' people, possibly some north-oriental mediterranean type (more) with some atlantic mesolithic people accretions (less) - all the way this "type" is a relatively weak component in Wales traditonal folks but it is there they can be found without too long "prospections". Could be found at lower imput all over Atlantic shores
face neither broad nor narrow, not too high, very long dolichocephalic skull of mean relative height, eyes open on the outsides (lateral).

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## MOESAN

> More like this:
> 
> 
> 
> The Orkney Islands are well known to have had Scandinavian influence. It has been noticed (starting with Gray's pigmentation survey of Scotland in 1908) that they have a higher frequency of lighter features than most other areas of Scotland.


the people on this picture don't seem peculiarly light haired (I know, pictures are not reality!) - I wonder if in fact the fairest and more commonly fair ones are not in Zetlands/Shetlands%?
te Beddoe'smap doesn't make too much sense for me in some regions (Ulster, SwScorland, NE Scotland-Grampians, Durham, London area...) and doesn't check other "half-serious" maps nor my observations. the Western Highland (Argyle) has/HAD a lot of dark haired people (28%/30%?) but their eyes are very often light or middle-light, so I have some difficulty to believe he really founds 20% or more of combining dark haired + dark eyed people: even in Wales he did not find that: 

concerning cinema, picture or cartoon, and actors/actresses, I remarked they are very often chosen for they are different from the common level citizens of their country.

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