Where can I learn about the physical traits of ethnic groups?

Question

I'm not a racist or anything, but I'm trying to write a fantasy novel and want to give a realistic-ish picture of of human diversity. Where could I find descriptions of the characteristics, skeletal or otherwise of, say, various Chinese ethnic groups? Please keep in mind that I know very little about physical anthropology, and please only point me at cultural information (I know it's more important, but it's also easier to make up) unless it's very detailed to thurough.

Answer 1

Most physical traits are more divided by geographic region on a larger scale (races). There aren't very many specific ethnic groups that have their own physical traits.  The ones that I can think of at the moment are a ethnic group in Africa that live in the Congo are very short.  Native Americans have some too.  Some of the Choctaw are very short.  Whereas, some tribes in the Northwest are very tall.  Still though, there aren't a lot.  So, for that you will have to look the larger picture a lot of the time.  You can work smaller from there.

An excellent book (although expensive) is called Human Variation: Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups by Stephen Molnar.  It can be bought used for 26.99 at Amazon.com, but you may be able to find it through the library.  Or try inter-library loan.

I hope this helps.

There is also some information under the Human Races topic at Wikipedia. They are broken down into Caucasoid, Mongoloid, *******/Africoid, and Native American (as well as some other subgroups).  A general book on Osteology would also have a little bit of information.