Abstract: Sixty-seven physical characteristics on 144 adults (60 males and 84 females) of the Deng living in Chayu county of Tibet were investigated. Thirty-one physical indices and their distributions were also calculated.
The results of this work are as follows. The percentages of upper eyelid eyefold and mongoloid fold are low. The height of the alae nasi is essentially medium-sized. Nasal root height is medium-sized in males and small-sized in females. Lobe shape and upper lip height are mostly medium-sized. In the Tibeto-Burman language family, many head and face indices of Deng are comparatively low or relatively small, however maximum head breadth is large. Some common physical types of the Deng include hypsicephalic, acrocephalis and mesoprosopy. In males, the percentage of mesocephaly ( length- breadth index of the head ) and mesorrhiny is high, while in female the highest frequency is brachycephaly and leptorrhiny. Typical physical characteristics of the Deng include a long trunk and a medium distance between the iliac crests. In addition, males are of the mesatiskelic type, with medium chest circumference and broad shoulder breadth. Females are of the subbrachyskelic type, with broad chest circumference and medium shoulder breadth. Typical stature of the Deng is short, and generally body indices are very low. Interestingly, the physical characteristics of Deng are similar to the Derung who belong to the South Asian type of Mongoloid.

Key words: Somatoscopy; Anthropometry; Deng; Constitution