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I guess you are asking about racial characteristics. These are surprisingly diverse, so there is no such thing as a "typical" native American.

Some of the earliest descriptions are those by English explorers on America's east coast in July 1584, which describe the people of that region having "yellowish skin and with black hair, although among the children are some with fine auburn or chestnut colour hair."

In 1602 at Cuttyhunk Island the natives were described as "tall, big-boned men . . . of a stature much higher than we; of complexion much like dark olive, their hair black."

In Virginia in 1612, natives were described as "brown or tawny . . . their noses are broad, long and flat, full at the end. They are generally tall of stature."

The Sasquehannas were even taller, seeming like giants to the English and with deep, resonant voices.

The eastern peoples were generally tall and slim, with narrow, angular faces and skin colour ranging from pale and yellowish to dark and brown.

Among the Mandans, Arikaras and Hidatsas of the upper Missouri river there were many people with pale skin, blue eyes and fair hair. This was a genetic trait and not a consequence of intermarriage with white people. Generally the same tribes had the usual brown eyes, black hair and yellowish or tan-coloured skin.

The Apaches of the south-west represent a different type of native American typical of that region: short, squat, stocky and with broad, flat, round faces and very sharp features. Their skin tends to be much darker than in other areas.

The extreme differences between native peoples of the east coast and south-west can be seen by clicking the links below: Jay Silverheels shows typical eastern characteristics (and he was totally mis-cast as a western Indian in The Lone Ranger series), while the Apache warrior is typical of the south-west.

While the hair on the head is generally black and grows long and straight, it is a fact that facial and body hair is almost absent, hence very few beards and moustaches among native Americans. Many tribes viewed facial hair as unclean and would pluck it all out (including eyebrows) - until native traditions were lost under the "civilizing" influence of white Americans. None of the native actors in "Dances with Wolves" thought of plucking out their eyebrows, but their 19th century Lakota ancestors certainly did this regularly, as can be seen in hundreds of photographs taken at the time.

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