Abstract: Heath-Carter method was applied to study the somatotype of 409 aboriginal Gelao adult individuals (204 males; 205 females) with ages ranging from 20 to 60 in Daozhen County of Guizhou. The results are: (1) The mean somatotype of males falled in Esto-Mesomorph category (1.7 —4.8 —2.5), while that of females was Endo-Mesomorph category (2.8 —4.4 —1.8); (2)Age rising up, the values of Endomorph increased with that of the Ectomorph decreasing. Somatotype obviously changed after 35 in females. (3)Except the 20 ～ group having obvious sexual difference in the somatotype, the rest of each group have highly significant difference. (4)Compared with the somatotypes of other groups, the Gelao have less fat with less-developed skeletal muscles and a slender figure.

Key words: Heath-Carter somatotype; Adult; Gelao nationality