UF study of lice DNA shows humans first wore clothes 170,000 years ago

University of Florida ^ | January 6, 2011 | Danielle Torrent

[decimon]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new University of Florida study following the evolution of lice shows modern humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago, a technology which enabled them to successfully migrate out of Africa.

Principal investigator David Reed, associate curator of mammals at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, studies lice in modern humans to better understand human evolution and migration patterns. His latest five-year study used DNA sequencing to calculate when clothing lice first began to diverge genetically from human head lice.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study is available online and appears in this month’s print edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution.

“We wanted to find another method for pinpointing when humans might have first started wearing clothing,” Reed said. “Because they are so well adapted to clothing, we know that body lice or clothing lice almost certainly didn’t exist until clothing came about in humans.”

The data shows modern humans started wearing clothes about 70,000 years before migrating into colder climates and higher latitudes, which began about 100,000 years ago. This date would be virtually impossible to determine using archaeological data because early clothing would not survive in archaeological sites.

The study also shows humans started wearing clothes well after they lost body hair, which genetic skin-coloration research pinpoints at about 1 million years ago, meaning humans spent a considerable amount of time without body hair and without clothing, Reed said.

[decimon]

This is gonna be fun...

Yeah, lice always gets to them.

[Beowulf9]

"My own careful research also confirms these important findings." Longer ago than that!

[decimon]

...lice in the pubic hair. Did I miss that important fact?

With any luck.

[livius]

Actually, I thought it was kind of interesting. Every once in a while, something good does come out of Gainesville.

[BenLurkin]

Perhaps the researchers in Florida have none. They may not know what nitpicking means.

[dfwgator]

Every once in a while, something good does come out of Gainesville.

I came out of Gainesville, don't I count? ;)

[WayneS]

“Because they are so well adapted to clothing, we know that body lice or clothing lice almost certainly didn’t exist until clothing came about in humans.”

"Spontaneous Generation"?

[knarf]

" .. we know that body lice or clothing lice almost certainly didn’t exist until clothing came about in humans.”

Stopped right there.

Moog put on a bear skin and .... lice magically appeared?

[allmendream]

Speciation from head lice.

[allmendream]

Yes, just as when humans invented nylon, a bacteria that digests nylon “magically appeared”, i.e. it evolved from bacteria that previously were not able to digest nylon.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

[decimon]

Moog put on a bear skin and .... lice magically appeared?

Hair is hair.

[T Minus Four]

Speciation from head lice

So can they now determine how far back was it when humans developed heads? Not brains mind you, that's still "evolving". Slowly.

[decimon]

Is she flashing a Vulcan peace sign or am I seeing something behind her.

[T Minus Four]

Can you imagine how many times bell-bottoms have come in and out of style in 170,000 years?

[count-your-change]

You might say they dice the lice to find genes for jeans? Or an overhaul of the overall theory? Or perhaps skirting the issue of how the cavemen were kilt?

[Brilliant]

So I guess that this was after the fall.

[pierrem15]

stop nitpicking ...

[WayneS]

I think you might have it backwards...

[bunkerhill7]

UF study of lice DNA shows humans first wore clothes made in Chinese sweatshops 170,000 years ago