Etymology:

The name is derived from the Aran Isles in Ireland, where this special Nordid type may be found.


Origins:

An altered Keltic Nordid, largely the product of isolation and inbreeding, of racial dimensions for which no continental prototype can been found.


Description:

The Aran Nordid population is taller, longer-legged, leaner, and lighter in weight than most other Irish groups.

The type is characterized by a great head length and an exceptionally low head height, a very long face and nose, and an excess of blue eyes and golden and red hair. The low-headedness seems to be borne by the least blond element in the Aran population. The breadth-length index is mesocephalic (77.8) and the length-height index orthocephalic (60.7).

The temporal planes converge, and the vault is cylindrical when seen in the front view. This feature, in less exaggerated form, is a cranial diagnostic of the Keltic Iron Age type in general.


Illustrations:

Examples from The Races of Europe (Carleton S. Coon 1939):


   
 (Aran)              (Aran)


Further examples:


                              
(Aran)
                   
(from National Geographic)


Geographical distribution:

The Aran type is only found among the hypermarginal and culturally conservative Gaelic speakers of the Aran Isles, off Ireland's west coast.


Related or similar types:

- Keltic Nordid