I understand the reasons for Physical characteristics of Caucasians, African...?

Question

and how their bodys adapted over time to the environments in which they lived. But I'm having a hard time understanding the reasons the environmental conditions for oriental people producted their physical characteristics.

Any Ideas or suggested reading?

Answer 1

"Oriental people" includes a large swath of the world and people with widely varying physical characteristics.  Asian peoples are sometimes classified into three smaller groups:  Siberians, Eskimos, and Native Americans; Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans; and Southeast  Asians.  Furthermore, not all of a population's traits can be explained by adaptation to environmental conditions.  

The only things I can remember about possible adaptations to the environment among Asians are flat noses and epicanthal folds ("slanted eyes") to protect against cold and glare.

I think exploring the history of human populations is extremely interesting, but most of the work has nothing to do with physical appearance.  It relies on invisible genetic differences and is highly statistical.  

Some people object to any kind of attempt to group human beings as tantamount to racism.

Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza has written some excellent books on human diversity; another book is Steve Olson's "Mapping Human History".  I don't know if these will answer your initial question, however.

Answer 2

Asian/Orientals simply represent the results of migration impulses branching off, at different times, once the first humans arrived at the Indian sub-continent, after leaving Africa...and having to adapt to different environments, i.e. cold air, wind, dust, glare!

Answer 3

They didn't listen to their momma about the effects of masturbating too much.

Answer 4

I have done an extensive search on this topic and below is what I have found, it is very thin, with references. I have included the begginning due to this article being extensive. Enjoy.

.Asian or Oriental: Heterochronic Patterns



  

"Mongoloid women accordingly tend to be more paedomorphic than women of other groups. Not only do women of Mongoloid origin present more prominent and rounded foreheads, but the bones of the whole skull, and, indeed, the whole skeleton, are more delicately made. Mongoloids generally tend to be shorter, and have larger heads, including larger brains --- 150 cc by volume greater, on the average, than Caucasoids. The face is flatter, the jaws and palate smaller, the nose smaller and flatter at the root (the miscalled "bridge"), and the slight fold of skin over the median part of the eye (the epicanthic fold) is preserved. The body is less hirsute, and there are fetal traits. One result of this is the high frequency of beauty among mongoloid males and females, a beauty of great delicacy (see Table I, page 21). The differential action of neoteny has produced some peculiar effects. For example, among the highly neotenized Japanese the males upper and lower jaws have been reduced in size while the teeth have not. The result has created a disharmony in many males in the form of extreme crowding and malocclusion of the teeth." (Montagu, Ashley (1989) Growing Young N.Y.: McGraw Hill pp. 40)

Answer 5

"The 'prototypic' Mongoloid features seem to have originated among those who originate from drier, arid, or colder inland or northern regions. Whereas tropical and damper weather along the Pacific coast or in the proximity of the Equator seems to have contributed to significantly less body and facial hair."

I read somewhere that the shape of the nose in Asian populations allows cold dry air a better chance to warm up before it is inhaled into the lungs, but I can't find a good reference that elaborates on this.

"The maintenance of the epicanthic fold into adulthood in many populations is believed to have evolved as a defense against both the extreme cold as well as the extreme light that occurs in the Eurasian arctic and north. It has also been suggested that the fold provides some protection against dust in areas of desert such as that found in the deserts of northern China and Mongolia as well as parts of Africa."

"In Asians there is an additional layer of pretaral fat that lies below the orbicularis muscle with a lower insertion of the orbital septum, as well as a thicker layer of skin. This makes the pre-tarsal Asian eyelid significantly thicker than in non-Asians. (This thicker eyelid is believed to have evolved for the colder Northern Asian populations, to shield the eyes from cold, wind and glare off of snow.)"