The Sylvad Physiognomy

What Eastern Woodland Indians Looked Like in 1638 

The appearance of this French soldier depicted in the news story linked below is identical, in terms of skin tone and facial features, to the Indians in New England, Virginia and Canada illustrated and described between 1585 and 1711 by European explorers and missionaries. This was so well-known to 19^th Century scholars that the term Sylvad was coined to describe people living on the once heavily forested shores of Northern Europe and North America, suggesting that people living in such similar habitats naturally looked similar.

There are various theories for this similarity of appearance between Europeans and Amerindians, supported by archaeological and DNA evidence, spanning from the Ice Age to the Iron Age and even into the late Middle Ages. However, In White Indians and Yellow Negroes, the investigation is limited to evidence of interracial slavery, rape, marriage and adoption between Europeans and Aboriginal North Americans beginning in 1500.

I plan on using the blogspot to build this book, as Lynn has the ability to extract images from links which I do not on the main site.

Photo credit: Refugee Resettlement Watch

(c) 2017 James LaFond