Posted on 01/16/2005 12:47:07 PM PST by IGBT
London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals, according to a new study by British scientists.
Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times as saying the so-called "ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100 000 years old.
They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200 000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40 000 years ago.
Rosalind Harding, the research team leader, told The Times: "The gene is certainly older than 50 000 years and it could be as old as 100 000 years.
"An explanation is that it comes from Neanderthals." It is estimated that at least 10 percent of Scots have red hair and a further 40 percent carry the gene responsible, which could account for their once fearsome reputation as fighters.
Neanderthals have been characterised as migrant hunters and violent cannibals who probably ate most of their meat raw. They were taller and stockier than Homo sapiens, but with shorter limbs, bigger faces and noses, receding chins and low foreheads.
The two species overlapped for a period of time and the Oxford research appears to suggests that they must have successfully interbred for the "ginger gene" to survive. Neanderthals became extinct about 28 000 years ago, the last dying out in southern Spain and southwest France. - Sapa-DPA
I have always said I am "Rude, Crude & Socially Unacceptable" and now I know why. WHOOT.
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When my husband and I lived in Scotland, we were in a tea shop at the Inverary Jail (toursist attraction) I stood behind this person with the most beautiful dark deep rich thick long red hair down their back. Imagine my surprise the person turned around and it was a dude. I don't normally find red head men attractive by this guy in his twenties looked like he stepped off a romance novel. I actually was speechless for a second or two.
WOW that explains why i used to get so turned on when my freckled ex boyfriend used to drag me off to the bedroom by my long red hair. My best friend calls all my boyfriends neanderthals. YES!!!
Holy crap, so much dust came off that 20-month old post that it's nearly up to my chin. =8-0
And welcome to FR.
you left out strawberry blondes (and your opinion of them)
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you left out strawberry blondes (and your opinion of them)
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A temper with a bit of air-headedness?
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Merry Christmas to me!
If the Picts spoke Celtic, why did St. Columba need a translator?
Just as you would likely need a translator if you were speaking to a Norwegian if you didn’t know Norwegian and he didn’t know English, even though both are Germanic languages. There are enough differences in members of language families that translation is required between their mutual speakers.
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