I had read previously about the Cheddar Man and his dark skin. I recall that this was supposed to be in the Cornwall area where everyone would be living not far from the ocean. It made sense that this population could maintain a dark skin because fish with Vitamin D would be a ready source of food. I am not sure how to explain such skin color in central Europe. At least it does explain the preference for fair haired an fair skinned women as they would develop better pelvic structure for easier childbearing. It also explains the persistence of the Neanderthal traits of ginger hair and blue eyes amount the Scotish and Irish populations.
Regarding short term climate crisis, I plan to look at my large volcano book to see what serious volcano crisis might have set up conditions for the Crow Creek massacre. On the other hand that is not the only reason for short term climate change. I read the whole link and it is really sobering to imagine such difficult times, although current human behavior does not seem to have improved much. We in the US don’t always realize how lucky we are.
In central europe it would be due to a diet heavy in animal protein.
That’s why the Inuit are darker skinned
“fair haired an fair skinned women as they would develop better pelvic structure for easier childbearing. “
??? could you elaborate please?
> ...found in Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England... in 1903... [much more recent] Analysis of his nuclear DNA indicates that he was a typical member of the Western European hunter-gatherer population at the time, with a most likely phenotype of blue-green eyes, dark brown or black hair, and dark or dark-to-black skin, with no genetic adaption for lactase persistence into adulthood. [wikipedia]
The area near Cheddar Gorge is where the original cheddar cheese came from, btw.
BTW, Cheddar Man died violently, someone bashed his head in. Prehistoric cultures would have benefited from 7/11s.
The Crow Creek massacre had nothing to do with climate, given what humans are obviously capable of, the real mystery is, why doesn’t it happen more often?