The question of the race of ancient Egyptians was raised historically as a product of the scientific racism of the 18th and 19th centuries, and was linked to models of racial hierarchy primarily based on craniometry, anthropometry and genetics. A variety of views circulated about the racial identity of the Egyptians and the source of their culture. These were typically identified in terms of a distinction between the Caucasoid and Negroid racial categories. Some scholars argued that ancient Egyptian culture was influenced by other Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Northeast Africa or the Middle East, while others pointed to influences from various Nubian groups or populations in Europe.