Ethnicity Guesser

Based on historical distributions from ~1500 years ago. Estimates appearance, not DNA ancestry or personal identity.

Phenotype

Mountain Dama Phenotype - Face Features & Origin

Historical anthropology places the Mountain Dama phenotype in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a documented center near 21.1° S, 14.6° E. Ancient type of the Namibian highlands, especially the Brandberg and Otavi mountains. The sections that follow unpack the Mountain Dama entry in practice: the composite face, the traits it summarizes, the naming history, and the sources.

Average Face

Averaging the portraits behind Mountain Dama leaves the features that repeat and erases the ones that do not. That is exactly how the Mountain Dama composite below was built: individual photographs were aligned and statistically merged, exaggerating shared structure into a single reference face that no actual person looks like.

Mountain Dama phenotype average face composite

Composite source: Human Phenotypes — Mountain Dama

Geographic Distribution

Mountain Dama is documented across Sub-Saharan Africa, with its historical reference center near 21.1° S, 14.6° E. The coordinates mark where the type was most characteristic roughly 1500 years ago; population movements since then have scattered and blended the distribution far beyond that point.

Reference center: 21.1° S, 14.6° E — Sub-Saharan Africa. Historical distribution documented circa 500 CE; modern distributions differ substantially.

Physical Characteristics

(Bluish) black skin with kinky or peppercorn hair.

  • Short to medium height, mesoskelic with an endomorph to mesomorph body
  • Dolicho- mesocephalic, orthocranic with coarse facial features, a platyrrhine nose with a depressed root
  • Often prognathous, body hair relatively strong

Historical Background

Ancient type of the Namibian highlands, especially the Brandberg and Otavi mountains. Probably a relict of groups that were widespread in Southern Africa prior to the Bantu expansion. During the 19th century it was still found in some Mountain Damara tribes, e.g. Haukhoin and Kattea pygmies. Today only as an admixed minority element in Damara, Ovambo, and related groups.

Research History & Naming

Every label in the historical catalogue has an author and a date, and Mountain Dama has accumulated its share of competing attributions. For Mountain Dama, the literature extract below shows the naming chain — from the first definition through the later revisions that shaped the current entry.

Described in high detail by Vedder (1923) as "Bergdama", after early reports indicated the existence the type. Eickstedt (1934) and Knussmann (1996) regarded them the southernmost Paleo Negrid variety, Baker (1981) called it "Palänegrid 4". Biasutti (1967) , Lundman (1967) and Cole (1965) mention Bergdama as atypical.

Comparison With Nearby Phenotypes

Geography, not alphabet, ordered this table: the five phenotype centers closest to Mountain Dama's, with the traits most likely to be mistaken for it (Strandlooper leads at 287 km). In gameplay, these five account for most of the wrong-but-nearby pins against Mountain Dama.

PhenotypeRegionDistanceDistinguishing trait
StrandlooperSub-Saharan Africa287 kmYellowish brown skin, wrinkled in old age, kinky, sometimes peppercorn hair.
KhoidSub-Saharan Africa369 kmYellowish, light brown skin, wrinkled in old age, peppercorn hair.
KalaharidSub-Saharan Africa794 kmYellowish/reddish medium brown skin, wrinkled in old age, peppercorn hair (&lt 15 mm).
Chopi-TswanaSub-Saharan Africa1,058 kmYellowish dark, sometimes medium brown skin, usually kinky, sometimes peppercorn hair.
KarroidSub-Saharan Africa1,507 kmYellowish light or medium brown skin, heavily wrinkled in old age, peppercorn hair.

Mountain Dama in the Game

In gameplay terms, Mountain Dama rewards region-level recall: the score is computed from the distance between your pin and 21.1° S, 14.6° E. Players often confuse Mountain Dama with Strandlooper (287 km out) in the comparison table above — those confusions are exactly what the distance penalty is designed to expose.

Play Classic DailyPractice in Challenge Mode

Mountain Dama Phenotype FAQ

Where does the Mountain Dama phenotype come from?
Historical sources center the Mountain Dama phenotype on 21.1° S, 14.6° E (Sub-Saharan Africa). Treat that as a rough anchor: the type appeared across a wider surrounding area — its nearest documented neighbors, Strandlooper and Khoid, sit 287 and 369 km from the reference point — and its present-day distribution no longer matches the historical map.
What does the Mountain Dama phenotype look like?
The composite emphasizes recurring traits: (Bluish) black skin with kinky or peppercorn hair. The full trait list for Mountain Dama appears in the physical characteristics section above.
Is the Mountain Dama phenotype a race or a nationality?
No — and the Mountain Dama naming history above shows why. Mountain Dama was defined, renamed, and regrouped repeatedly by different researchers, which is the opposite of how a fixed racial category would behave. A phenotype is a recurring bundle of visible traits recorded across a population; the Mountain Dama label says nothing about where any individual's ancestors were born.
How does Mountain Dama appear in the game?
When the Mountain Dama face comes up in Classic Daily or Challenge Mode, you pin the world map where you believe the type is historically most common, and the score decays with your distance to 21.1° S, 14.6° E. Fair warning: the nearest other entry in our dataset, Strandlooper, sits just 287 km away, so this face rewards precise placement — the right country alone is not always enough.

References & Literature

Primary sources for the Mountain Dama entry, listed as cited in the historical literature. The naming and classification debates around Mountain Dama referenced above run through these works.

  • Vedder, H. 1923. Die Bergdama. Hamburg.
  • Eickstedt, E. von. 1934. Rassenkunde und Rassengeschichte der Menschheit. Ferdinand Enke. Stuttgart.
  • Knussmann, R. 1996. Vergleichende Biologie des Menschen: Lehrbuch der Anthropologie und Humangenetik. 2ed. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag.
  • Baker, J.R.. 1981. Race. Oxford Univ. Press. London.
  • Biasutti, R. 1967 (1941). Le Razze e i Popoli della terra. 4th Ed. Vol 1-4. U.T.E.T., Torino.
  • Lundman, B. 1967. Geographische Anthropologie. Rassen und Völker der Erde. G. Fischer, Stuttgart
  • L65

Related Phenotypes

Other human phenotypes whose documented centers lie in the same part of the map as Mountain Dama.

  • Strandlooper

    Sub-Saharan Africa · 287 km away

    Almost extinct Khoisanid type, once common along the South African coasts from Cape Colony to the Skeleton Coast. The name derives from the ...

  • Khoid

    Sub-Saharan Africa · 369 km away

    Khoisanid type, similar to Sanid, but with a slightly different morphology. Was more common in farmers and less common in hunter-gatherers c...

  • Kalaharid

    Sub-Saharan Africa · 794 km away

    Sanid variety, native to the Kalahari. Very ancient and distinct, specialised desert type with many unique features. Typical for the Norther...

  • Chopi-Tswana

    Sub-Saharan Africa · 1,058 km away

    Bantuid variety, overall similar to Central Bantuid, but with weak Khoisan influence, placing it closer to Xhosaid. Developed as a result of...

  • Karroid

    Sub-Saharan Africa · 1,507 km away

    Sanid variety, named after the Karoo desert. Very ancient and distinct with many unique features. Was dominant in Southern Africa some centu...

Further Reading

Background articles from the blog that explain where the Mountain Dama type fits, how these composites are built, and what a face can and cannot tell you.