Posts with Comments by MEMEMe
Are red heads the living Neandertals?
razib..
point taken. thanks for the info...so I wonder how dark skinned people survived at that latitude up until relatively recent time.
point taken. thanks for the info...so I wonder how dark skinned people survived at that latitude up until relatively recent time.
The darkest Africans don't live in a tropical zone. They live in semi-arid regions of Sudan/Uganda/Chad, etc.
The darkest West Africans I have seen pictures of are in Senegal, which is a large part of is also semi-arid. Nigerians and Ghanaians tend to be brown...not "black".
http://www.nma.gov.au/libraries/
images/temporary_exhibitions/extremes/
extremes_large/africa/
a_khoisan_man_northern_cape_south_africa/
files/6398/nma.img-ex20042116-262-vi-vs1.jpg
This Khoisan guy is a "golden brown" color and as we know they once lived spread out over Southern Africa is semi-arid lands but also all the way south to the cape which is similar in climate to California (Mediterranean like) and we do not know how long they inhabited that region.
Razib is also correct that Turks came from Western Mongolia and the people in that region are not "brown" more of an olive to white coloring. It is likely that Central Asian people have been a "sandy brown or tan coloring" since they came out of the Middle East from ancient Iran. Then again as he mentioned (likely due to back migration from Europe and maybe Anatolia) they may have intermixed with lighter people fairly early, as light eyes and hair are not unusual in the region. It could be there is no strong selection for or against very light skin in Central Asia due to climate, or maybe the early domestication of horses allowed later influxes of darker skin people to get vitamin D from horse milk (which also has less lactose than cow milk so is more tolerable).
The darkest West Africans I have seen pictures of are in Senegal, which is a large part of is also semi-arid. Nigerians and Ghanaians tend to be brown...not "black".
http://www.nma.gov.au/libraries/
images/temporary_exhibitions/extremes/
extremes_large/africa/
a_khoisan_man_northern_cape_south_africa/
files/6398/nma.img-ex20042116-262-vi-vs1.jpg
This Khoisan guy is a "golden brown" color and as we know they once lived spread out over Southern Africa is semi-arid lands but also all the way south to the cape which is similar in climate to California (Mediterranean like) and we do not know how long they inhabited that region.
Razib is also correct that Turks came from Western Mongolia and the people in that region are not "brown" more of an olive to white coloring. It is likely that Central Asian people have been a "sandy brown or tan coloring" since they came out of the Middle East from ancient Iran. Then again as he mentioned (likely due to back migration from Europe and maybe Anatolia) they may have intermixed with lighter people fairly early, as light eyes and hair are not unusual in the region. It could be there is no strong selection for or against very light skin in Central Asia due to climate, or maybe the early domestication of horses allowed later influxes of darker skin people to get vitamin D from horse milk (which also has less lactose than cow milk so is more tolerable).
"highly specialized adaptation to hot, humid conditions. "
The Rift Valley is not "hot and humid"...black skin would not be accurate, more like "brown" skin.
Humans were likely brown skinned as they spread into the Middle East (obviously some went South along the coast and likely stayed "brown" as Melanesians are not "black" like Nilotic peoples).
I would agree that once journeying up around Iran and into Central Asia humans would have started to heavily select for lighter skin, not Irish Redhead white...I doubt that. Maybe "tan" at least..similar to a lot of Middle Eastern peoples today in Iraq and Iran. There would be no reason to be "lighter" as the sun is still quite strong in that region and although more forested than today, they would still be exposed while hunting/gathering.
Humans probably started to reach average Europeans skin tone norms on the Central Asian step, but I would imagine a "pasty white" appearance did not occur until they got to the Baltic region and it happened over a long period. In that region I would also imagine blue eyes and blond hair started coming under heavy selection (although it could have existed before).
The Rift Valley is not "hot and humid"...black skin would not be accurate, more like "brown" skin.
Humans were likely brown skinned as they spread into the Middle East (obviously some went South along the coast and likely stayed "brown" as Melanesians are not "black" like Nilotic peoples).
I would agree that once journeying up around Iran and into Central Asia humans would have started to heavily select for lighter skin, not Irish Redhead white...I doubt that. Maybe "tan" at least..similar to a lot of Middle Eastern peoples today in Iraq and Iran. There would be no reason to be "lighter" as the sun is still quite strong in that region and although more forested than today, they would still be exposed while hunting/gathering.
Humans probably started to reach average Europeans skin tone norms on the Central Asian step, but I would imagine a "pasty white" appearance did not occur until they got to the Baltic region and it happened over a long period. In that region I would also imagine blue eyes and blond hair started coming under heavy selection (although it could have existed before).
Nature: Watson “damage[d] science itself”
A Nigerian comments on Watson:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710250639.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710250639.html
Recent Comments