Middle East Before Arabization

By look do you mean Physical appearance?

sorry about the pictures small size bit this is a picture of a Berber notice how caucasian looking he is.

Thats nonsense its not diverse like Europe far-from it.

In the middle east, excluding Iran there are Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Druze, Yezids and Jews (not really an ethnic or race but different identity)

Edited by Bulldog - 01-Jun-2006 at 15:39

Arabs themselvs dont look similar, there are dark color ones and there are lighter ones,

@Azimuth, as an chines you will be able to see the difference between other chines and japanes people. Like me in germany if i see someone who don't looks German i could spot if he/she is Iranian or not. But the Germans can't differ between an Arab and an Iranian or a Turk.

Many people ask along the history about the blondy people from North Africa. Wasn't because northern migrations, but because the berbers are divided in two groups, a minority (5-8 % probably the ancient) called Mechta el Arbi/Cro-Magnon, and the majority of dark people (but more robust than the arabs), a branch of mediterranean people with a long isolated evolution from the other branchs; the two groups are mixed, althought the Mechtoides are more numerous in the western part of the Atlas, near the Atlantic ocean (near 10% of the berbers).

bye

Be careful, when i say "mediterranean"  i was talking about a phisical type, but, the genetics studies say that the berbers are near of the populatios of Near East, both separated in Egypt more or less (with an apportation of near eastern in the neolithic, probably by sea). Their idiom is a branch of the camyte-semitic languages, but their culture is native with a great influence first of the carthaginians and then the arabs (very very strong), althought not totally today they are very arabized (and discriminated) The paganism survive in few tribes, and in many faces of their religion.

Edited by Ikki - 02-Jun-2006 at 15:37

The only clearly differents are the Mechtoides, the darknes berbers are similar to the people of Near East, if you do a physical analysis there are differences, but not very noticeables (according to my sources, the mediterranean berbers are an archaic type, this can be an oldfashioned theory). Equally, many people from north Europe can't see the difference between iberians and berbers...

Apart from the Lebonese and Iranians are there any other North African/ Middle Eastern people that have retained their own "certain look"?

Im not sure about Iranians, but I really can't tell the difference between a Lebonese and a syrian/palestinian/jordanian....

I just like to point out, that Kurds are branch of Iranic people. They are not Turks, or Arabs, neither are they a separate group of their own. They are Iranians.