Von Luschan's chromatic scale

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Renatto Biasutti's Skin Color map; some data extrapolated, pre-1500 populations

using the Von Luschan Chromotic Scale

an easier to read version with non-representative colors is here

Von Luschan's chromatic scale is a method of classifying skin color. It is also called the von Luschan scale or von Luschan's scale. It is named after its inventor, Felix von Luschan. The equipment consists of 36 opaque glass tiles which were compared to the subject's skin, ideally in a place which would not be exposed to the sun (such as under the arm).

Though the von Luschan scale was used extensively throughout the first half of the twentieth century in the study of race and anthropometry, it was considered problematic, even by its practitioners, because it was very inconsistent. In many instances, different investigators would give different readings of the same person. It was largely abandoned by the early 1950s, replaced instead by methods utilizing reflectance spectrophotometry.

[edit] References

von Luschan F (1897). Beiträge zur Völkerkunde der Deutschen Schutzgebieten. Berlin: Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft.
von Luschan F (1927). Voelker, Rassen, Sprachen : Anthropologische Betrachtungen. Berlin: Deutsche Buchgemeinshaft.