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 ...
If I am not mistaken, red hair is a sign of the original Celtic people who once lived in most of Europe. I suppose if the ancient Germanic people originated in central Asia, then they probably did not have blond hair and blue eyes!The Celts were likewise not original to Europe. The remains of what we now consider Europeans can be found in Central Asia, which appears to have provided all the migrants to Europe, India, the Middle East, and to some extent China, for at least 5000 years. As Blam noted, there's plenty of red hair in Libya, but that's because of the blue-eyed, fair-haired nomadic people (generally all the nomads are called Bedouins, but...).
I'm working on an idea that will place the original red-headed folks (and maybe all Europeans/Caucasoids) at Sundaland during the last Ice Age.
Sundaland is an area around Indonesia (the size of present day India) that went underwater at the end of the Ice Age. These folks may have taken their habit of building megalithic and pyramid structures around the world when they became refugees. They probably came in at least three different waves at approximately 14,000, 11,500 and 8,000 years ago.
The oldest Jomon/Ainu skeleton ever found in Japan is 13,000 years old.
"The reconstruction of the murder victim from skeletal remains will be more accurate now, helping to identify that person. DNA left at a crime scene can give forensic scientists a clue as to the perps skin color and hair color, helping them to identify him."
The real answer is yes and no. Skull shapes do help determine race and from there you can guess at hair coloring and eyes etc.. DNA is helpful provided it is not degraded. If the crime if ancient any of this information is worthless since you have no database to draw from and both would be dead by now.
In forensic science we often have a DNA profile however no one to match it up to so it doesn't really "identify" the perp or the victim UNLESS you have something to match it to.
I was replying to th eitem posted. I was surprised that a "scientist" would make such a statement. It would be like saying that Americans weren't always primarily caucasian but that their ancestors were mongoloid.
The incidence of red hair in Du Quoin is probably far higher than it is in Lybia or Ireland. Actually I have seen studies suggesting that the Berbers and the Scandinavians come from the same stock. The Berbers are NOT Semitic and are the pre Islam population of North Africa.
I read some suggestions along that line too.
What's interesting is that Germans and Iranians come from the same tribe - the Aryans.
In fact, the name Iran means "Land of the Aryans". In parts of Iran there's lots of light hair and eyes, but the majority have light to olive skin tone with dark hair and eyes. Although the facial structure is more european than middle eastern.
One can tell the difference between Iranians and Arabs, due to skin tone and facial structure, but Iranians don't look anything like Germans either. Very interesting stuff that always gets me.
-meant to send to Blam, too.
" Where do you think is the homeland of the people with the genes for red-hair is?"
Neanderthals? (recalling an old thread on the topic)
Actually Iran was "Persia" and they were not always called that. Indians and All of the other Indo-European languages aka Aryans all have an Aryan branch but Germans and Persians are not at all the same. If you put it that way Afghans come from that German branch too. And the vast majority of Iran or at least those that have light hair and eyes are the mixes.
Iran was always called Iran inside the country - it was only called Persia by the West. The Greeks called Iranians - "Persians", but those within the country or the former empire called their country Iran - which translates to Land of the Aryans.
The lighter featured populace are not mixed - they are a part of various regions in Iran. The only darker featured Iranians are on the border with Iraq [consisting of the 2% Arab populace] and with Pakistan [where the Baluchi minority lives].
No it was not always called Iran. Listen,
Iraq Iran India Pakistan Afghanistan Armenia are all derivatives and various translations from the word "Aryan" since Sanskrit is a language that comes from India and is thus an Aryan language. Persia changed to "Iran" as its national title right around the 1960's only because it had an arrogant ego trip to supposedly show that they are "the lords" as the Ayatollah once tried.
The lighter ones amongst Persians today are the mixes because for years Persians have pillaged lighter people and thus their cultures clashed and they mixed. They mixed with cultures whom are White and have those blonde hair and blue eyed features:
1) Armenians
2) Greeks
3) Romans etc.
They do have an Aryan BRANCH but alas they are not the source of Aryans. And also, the facts remain: that blonde red hair blue green eyed feature is a genetic mutation found only among the WHITE race. That is common only amongst White people because it comes from the climate just as other genetic mutations are all common amongst other races. There is no way in hell that Germans--who come from Germany north of the equator where they barely see sun-- could have been naturally dark skinned and haired. Colder regions as logic and anthropology shows they have little sunlight thus preventing them from getting natural dark skin. They are not prone to getting dark skin because they have adapted to their climate.
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