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.

[Frantzie]

They probably wore stupid blue and orange UF Gator colors. What a waste of money “study.”

[decimon]

Companion piece ping.

[lovecraft]

Well....yeah. It got cold and there’s such a thing as shrinkage. Even the cave men got it. :)

[Leo Farnsworth]

This is gonna be fun...

[dragonblustar]

, meaning humans spent a considerable amount of time without body hair and without clothing,

I guess this guy didn't get the memo.

[windsorknot]

We know that the Flintstones wore clothes.

[GeronL]

No way in the world to figure that out from lice DNA

[JPG]

Chestnuts shrinking in an open cave, Jack Frost laughing at your clothes.

[FormerACLUmember]

My own careful research also confirms these important findings.

[Leo Farnsworth]

“No way in the world to figure that out from lice DNA”

Uh, yes - IF it was lice DNA from a member of anyone BUT the Hugh Hefner or Lady Gaga Clan...then it would have been NEGATIVE for clothes...

[dfwgator]

They probably wore stupid blue and orange UF Gator colors

Beats wearing Garnet and Gold.

[KarlInOhio]

Can they use DNA to determine when politicians branched off from the rest of the louse genus?

[JimSEA]

What about the migration of Homo Erectus some 500,000+ years ago? Peking and the South Urals must have been chilly?

[Frantzie]

LOL! Boy ain’t that the truth.

[GraceG]

[ 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. ]

More support of the Aquatic Human Origin Hypothesis.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I could not find mention of lice in the pubic hair. Did I miss that important fact?

[BenLurkin]

“Humans” using the term very loosely.

[Islander7]

DNA test confirms link to Lauren Empire.

[Billthedrill]

You bet we did. And I still have that same pair of jeans.