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
ping
Turns out I love Neaderthals.
Neaderthals????
Neaderthals??!??!?
So, the English are calling the Irish Neanderthals.
Surprise, surprise.
...make shure you confirm they are REAL redheads. :)
There's the rusty brown of silky auburn - very atractive.
And the brillo-ey neon orange - no so much...
I'll buy that.
I am a redhead of Scottish decent and I am not comfortable with the idea that a British scientist has attributed red hair to Neanderthals. It smacks of a slur, for some reason.
Well, I hunt and I like my meat rare and I have red hair and freckles (see nickname) but I'm totally drawing the line at cannibalism. I know what you people eat. There is no marinade or rub that's going to make you people "finger lickin' good".
Yep. Me too.
:^D
Only thing is the REAL Irish aren't red-headed and freckled. Ireland gets that from the viking invaders. Turns out the real Irish are the Black Irish: Dark featured, but still rather pale skin and rather short.
I myself like redheaded women...and auburn, jetblack, blonde, strawberry blonde, brown, and lately, since I'm married, a mix of grey and brown.
FMCDH(BITS)
What is left out is that the Neanderthal on the average had a larger brain size that H. Sapien.
"That is sooooo condescending!" - Geico Caveman.
I agree, and I am also a redhead of scottish descent. Especially since the article says that the neanderthals apparently died out while in spain and southern france. Shouldn't there be a larger population a redheads in that region if so. The science in this article sound highly suspicious.
uh-oh
lol
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