Features of the "Verbal Portrait" of Central and Southern Caucasians of Russia, Compiled From the Back of the Head

Abstract

The article is devoted to the search for differential diagnostic features of appearance that allow an expert level to judge whether an unknown person belongs to the Central or southern local Caucasian race, which is important in the practice of identity identification. Research material: verbal description of the appearance of 116 Central and 64 southern Europeans (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians; Avars, Abkhazians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Dargins, Ingush, Kabardins, Lezgins, Ossetians, etc.). The description of the appearance was made from the back of the head according to the original method, which includes 15 features. Methods of variation statistics were used to process the data obtained. Diagnostic coefficients were calculated for statistically significantly different values (p<0.05). It was found that black hair (8,2), low level of hair growth (3,1), post-traumatic deformation of the auricles (2,1), and hair growth in a counterclockwise curl (2,0) are the most typical for southern Caucasians. Central Caucasians are characterized by light brown (-14,7) or light brown hair (-4,1), moles or freckles on the back of the head or neck (-3,4) egg-shaped head (-2,1), high hair growth (-2,1). It is shown that the set of features allows us to achieve a practically reliable level of solving the problem of the local racial type of an unknown person. A distinctive feature and advantage of the developed feature system is the ability to solve an expert problem in situations where the most informative area in terms of race and diagnostics-the face – is destroyed (if we are talking about an unidentified corpse) or hidden from CCTV cameras (if we are talking about a criminal hiding his appearance).