Why do Slavic people have such distinctive looks?

[oc16]

As a person who is fascinated by history, geography, ethnicity, etc, this one always stumped me.

Just one of those things I find fascinating, but don't really have an answer to.

Higher cheekbones, rounder faces/broad faces and usually more almond shaped eyes than their Western European counterparts.

People will say its because of the Mongolian influence from the Middle ages, but I thought that theory has been debunked and Slavs have very little if any Asian blood in them.

I have attached three pics of Slavic Individuals. Not all Slavs have this distinctive look, but a majority of them do. These three individuals would also stand out in Western Europe for their facial structure. You would not mistake any of these individuals for being Irish, English, French, German or Dutch.

Some Scandinavians have a distinctive look, but not most of them.

1st is Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova
2nd is Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko
3rd is Polish Pole Vaulter Kamila Przybyla

Even Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak (100% Polish ethnicity) has that Slavic look to him.

 

[Plinco]

You would have to analyze the DNA of groups of slavic peoples before you can start to answer that question

 

[Kotaix]

Gengis Khan raped his way all across asia and into europe. It's pretty easy to see the influence. They are also the ethnic border between asia and the east.

I have a friend that is half chinese and half german. You couldn't guess for the life of you that she is half chinese based on the eyes, but she does have the high cheekbones and the almond shaped eyes you describe.

 

[oc16]

Gengis Khan raped his way all across asia and into europe. It's pretty easy to see the influence. They are also the ethnic border between asia and the east.

I have a friend that is half chinese and half german. You couldn't guess for the life of you that she is half chinese based on the eyes, but she does have the high cheekbones and the almond shaped eyes you describe.

An attractive loooking woman I bet.

 

[Zimbabwe]

Only the Poles and the Northern Russians among the East and West Slavs belong to a different, “Northern European” genetic cluster, along with the Balts, Germanic and Baltic Finnic peoples (Northern Russian populations are very similar to the Balts).[36][37]

The South Slavs, according to the Y-chromosome, not only geographically distant but also genetically are unrelated to the other Slavs and represent variants of the Balkan gene pool.

OP i don't think you realise their are slavs outside of Russia,ukraine and poland. South slavs look more turkish while the north slavs are a mix of Finnish,Germanic and Turko-Mongol.

If you want to see very unique looking people, Google the Sami

 

[oc16]

OP i don't think you realise their are slavs outside of Russia,ukraine and poland. South slavs look more turkish while the north slavs are a mix of Finnish,Germanic and Turko-Mongol.

If you want to see very unique looking people, Google the Sami

No, I know there are West Slavs, East Slavs and South Slavs. South Slavs being Croats, Serbs, Bulgars, Slovenians, Bosnians, Montenegrins and Macedonians.

A girl in my gym class was from Bulgaria and darker, could pass for Turkish. However, South Slavs have no love for the Turks.

 

[Bokanovsky]

Gengis Khan raped his way all across asia and into europe.

Ghengis Khan never set foot in Europe. The Mongol invasion of Europe took place after his death and it is now been well-established that there was little, if any, gene flow as a result of it.

To answer the OP's question, Slavic people have distinctive looks for the same reason Scandinavians, Celts, Italians and many others have distinctive phenotypical looks. While those ethnic group number in the tens or even hundreds of millions today, they all descended from small human populations living in different parts of Europe thousands of years ago. One ancestor with almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones could have influenced how an entire ethnic group would look thousands of years later.

 

[oc16]

Ghengis Khan never set foot in Europe. The Mongol invasion of Europe took place after his death and it is now been well-established that there was little, if any, gene flow as a result of it.

To answer the OP's question, Slavic people have distinctive looks for the same reason Scandinavians, Celts, Italians and many others have distinctive phenotypical looks. While those ethnic group number in the tens or even hundreds of millions today, they all descended from small human populations living in different parts of Europe thousands of years ago. One ancestor with almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones could have influenced how an entire ethnic group would look thousands of years later.

Good answer my Slavic brother! You must be a Slav or part Slav with that username of yours.

I am 25% Polish.

My Dad is half Polish and has that unique Eastern European look. Tan skin, large forehead, high cheekbones, broad face and light colored eyes.

 

[Zimbabwe]

Ghengis Khan never set foot in Europe. The Mongol invasion of Europe took place after his death and it is now been well-established that there was little, if any, gene flow as a result of it.

To answer the OP's question, Slavic people have distinctive looks for the same reason Scandinavians, Celts, Italians and many others have distinctive phenotypical looks. While those ethnic group number in the tens or even hundreds of millions today, they all descended from small human populations living in different parts of Europe thousands of years ago. One ancestor with almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones could have influenced how an entire ethnic group would look thousands of years later.

The map is very similar to the map of the Mongol Empire actually, so they left some genetic impact

 

[MatureDJ]

Gengis Khan raped his way all across asia and into europe. It's pretty easy to see the influence. They are also the ethnic border between asia and the east.

I have a friend that is half chinese and half german. You couldn't guess for the life of you that she is half chinese based on the eyes, but she does have the high cheekbones and the almond shaped eyes you describe.

As someone LocationMaxxing in the former USSR, I concur wholehertedly.

 

[MatureDJ]

To answer the OP's question, Slavic people have distinctive looks for the same reason Scandinavians, Celts, Italians and many others have distinctive phenotypical looks. While those ethnic group number in the tens or even hundreds of millions today, they all descended from small human populations living in different parts of Europe thousands of years ago. One ancestor with almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones could have influenced how an entire ethnic group would look thousands of years later.

I had already posted this video about the world's first Chad that explains how certain traits that are deemed attractive spread throughout a gene pool over the years:

 

[Bokanovsky]

Good answer my Slavic brother! You must be a Slav or part Slav with that username of yours.

Actually, my username comes from Brave New World (a must read book) and has nothing to do with my ancestry

 

[Bokanovsky]

The map is very similar to the map of the Mongol Empire actually, so they left some genetic impact

View attachment 7305

Mongols and "mongoloid" are not the same thing. All east asians (i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc.) are mongoloid. Mogols are a specific ethnic group that originates from Mongolia. There were mongoloid people living in what is now Russian and Eastern Europe (some of them still exist today) before the Slavic tribes settled there, so if there is any mongoloid genetic imprint it would likely be from them and not from the Mongol invasion.

 

[eli77]

Actually, my username comes from Brave New World (a must read book) and has nothing to do with my ancestry

love that book