Posted on 01/16/2005 12:47:07 PM PST by IGBT
London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals, according to a new study by British scientists.
Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times as saying the so-called "ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100 000 years old.
They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200 000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40 000 years ago.
Rosalind Harding, the research team leader, told The Times: "The gene is certainly older than 50 000 years and it could be as old as 100 000 years.
"An explanation is that it comes from Neanderthals." It is estimated that at least 10 percent of Scots have red hair and a further 40 percent carry the gene responsible, which could account for their once fearsome reputation as fighters.
Neanderthals have been characterised as migrant hunters and violent cannibals who probably ate most of their meat raw. They were taller and stockier than Homo sapiens, but with shorter limbs, bigger faces and noses, receding chins and low foreheads.
The two species overlapped for a period of time and the Oxford research appears to suggests that they must have successfully interbred for the "ginger gene" to survive. Neanderthals became extinct about 28 000 years ago, the last dying out in southern Spain and southwest France. - Sapa-DPA
What next! If English folks have red hair, it probably came from the Viking raiders! (smile)
AHAH! That fits my theory to a T. Those Viking raiders. Good thing they were good looking!
Mmmm... Too bad Rossetti's not around to paint ya...
Pretty girl UGGLLLY outfit!
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I always wondered why my knuckles scraped.
That's okay .. I probably couldn't hold still long enough to be painted thoroughly by Rossetti - those paintbrushes have got to tickle.
Jimmy Cagney, Van Johnson, from earlier generation. Remember, redheads are only 3% of the white population and whites are only 7% of global population. Not too many of us blue-eyed, red headed men out there...(ok, silver. but it used to be red.)
*LOL* I am so funny, and I haven't even been drinking.
Now we know why clowns have red hair.
My beautiful granddaughter is a red head. Her mother's father is of Scottish descent and her mother's mother is Tlingit indian. Her great grandmother on dad's side was an auburn-haired Irish gal. Sooo, who does she take it after? I think the indian genes are suppressed here.
My mother-in-law is very short, dark skinned, with black hair and dark eyes (Gypsy) and all of her grandsons (my boys) are tall, fair and red-haired. You would never guess they are related to her.
And he'd be just the guy to try somethin' like that. No wonder it took him ten years to finish paintings. ;')
Besides, the original Pre-Raphaelite "stunner" was Rossetti's wife, Elizabeth Siddal.
From Wood, Christopher. The Pre-Raphaelites. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1981 (I own the 2000 paperback edition):
According to William Michael Rossetti, this picture (Millais' Ophelia) is the best likeness of Elizabeth Siddal ever painted.
You're a ship model builder? I just met a fighter plane model builder. There are a lot of crafty people around here.
We'll have to tell 'em all about the exhumation sometime...
For those who don't have the money handy for a trip to England, the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelites in the U.S. are actually in my hometown of Wilmington, DE, at the Delaware Art Museum. Samuel Bancroft, who was from a prominent industrial family of Delaware of the mid-19th century, bought many of them, and they are now part of the museum's collection. You can see Rossetti's Lady Lilith (below) there. 
That would be a nice way to spend a couple of days (Tate). Another with Jane. :')
One of my aunts had black hair and she was Norwegian. Mom always said she was like someone from Bergen, Norway. Is that true, Bergeners???
There's an extremely handsome (and very nice) young man in our church who is a redhead, as are his grandmothers on both sides. He is so good looking. I just love to watch him even if he is thirty years younger than I am. Sigh.
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