Posted on 07/17/2004 7:07:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Researchers may be able to make more accurate reconstructions of what ancient humans looked like with the first ever use of ancient DNA to determine hair and skin colour from skeletal remains.... German anthropologist, Dr Diane Schmidt of the University of Göttingen... said her research may also help to identify modern day murderers and their victims... In research for her recently completed PhD, Schmidt built on research from the fields of dermatology and skin cancer that have found genetic markers for traits such as skin and hair colour in modern humans... She extracted DNA from ancient human bones as old as 3000 years old from three different locations in Germany and looked for these SNPs. Her findings suggest that red hair and fair skin was very uncommon among ancient Germans. Out of a total of 26 people analysed, Schmidt found only one person with red hair and fair skin, a man from the Middle Ages. All the other people had more UV-tolerant skin that tans easily.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
Her findings suggest that red hair and fair skin was very uncommon among ancient Germans... people had more UV-tolerant skin that tans easily.This is it for me tonight. My dark complexion comes from the German side. Personally, I'd always attributed it to Jews, Gypsies, and the Huns.
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No no.
Haven't you ever heard of the "Black Forest"?
8^)
A Middle Eastern drift among the Vikings is at least plausible, as so many served as mercs for the Byzantine emperors. But half? Not bloody likely!Ancient DNA may be misleading scientistsA group of researchers at the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre of the University of Oxford, in Britain, made the finding while studying Viking specimens. They found that about half of the specimens had DNA that suggested they were of Middle Eastern origin.
by Danny Kingsley
Tuesday, 18 February 2003
But more detailed analysis revealed that many of the genetic sequences in the double helix molecule, which carries the genetic information of every individual, were damaged at a key base that separates European sequences from Middle Eastern genetic types - damage which made the skeletons appear to have originated in the Levant.
"In the 1920s, the Neanderthals were reconstructed as wild people with dark hair and dumb, not really clever," she said. "Today, with the same fossil record, with the same bones and no other information - just a change in ideology - you see reconstructions of people with blue eyes and quite light skin colour, looking intelligent and using tools.
"Most of the reconstructions you see in museums are a thing of the imagination of the reconstructor. Our goal is to make this reconstruction less subjective and give them an objective basis with scientific data."
Shhhhh ... this is also true of evolution. It is just someones godless imagination at work. As more evidence is uncovered and objectively viewed it suggests the opposite of some dumb ape like "person".
Many of today's Germans have UV tolerant skin that tans beautifully as contrasted to my (mostly) English/Irish/Swedish skin that reddens and blisters and peels. I used to envy the beautiful tans that my German friends could get.
I'm only 1/4 German,but my VERY pale skin comes from that side,rather than my 3/4 Hungarian side,who while pale,were not/are not as pale skined as I;not even the blondes.
My dad's olive skin and dark eyes, from his mom...and she was part French...he always thought came from his dad's Scottish heritage...those Spanish sailors who came ashore along Scotland's rocky coast...and canoodled with a few red headed local maidens. When he grew a beard and moustache, they came in red!
Where do you think is the homeland of the people with the genes for red-hair is?
The incidence of red-hair is the same in Libya as it is in Ireland.
My 2nd wife was a red-head and couldn't get a tan without burning...my 3rd wife (ahem) was a blonde headed German that tanned beautifully.
Tell us about your sixth, seventh and eighth wives, too --- don't leave us in suspense!
Esau, twin brother of Jacob, is the father of redheads.
Pale doesn't figure into to it, I don't think one bit.
I'm a 4th generation Norske, here in the good old USA. True mixing, only among those from Norway. No other nationalites involved. Small territories.
Lol, ya gotta know the mid-northern states; we're pretty much all Scandinavians.
You know -- like the Ole and Lena jokes???
What is the incidence of red hair in Germany today? Probably less than one in 26. What a tiny number of people studied. How can she draw any responsible conclusions so soon?
I have traced my earliest ancestors to a remote place in the Swiss Alps hundreds of years ago. Supposedly Germanic tribes moved into the area thousands of years ago and displaced the Celtic tribes that were living there. I cannot even think about sunlight without getting a sunburn! People in my family are prone to skin cancer as they get older. I have to wear a long-sleeved shirt and a broad-rimmed hat if I am going to spend any time outside working in the yard, etc. Once I went hiking for a few hours without a hat and I got a bad sunburn on my face and neck.
I have wondered what effects geography and climate have on what we think of as race over a long period of time. People have different complexions, etc. but the genetic differences among the different peoples of the world are actually very small.
The Helvitti were a Germanic tribe that moved into the region North East of Lake Constance in early Roman times and displaced the Celts living there. Julius Caesar had to deal with them at one point when they tried to migrate into the Roman Province of Gaul. Their descendants still live in Helvetia. Are these you people, perhaps?
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