I'm a Neanderthal fan, who knew.
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
Does anyone have pictures of the ulitmate redhead Maureen O'Hara, in her youth?
You were just waiting for someone to ask.
ping
Redheads do NOT have bad tempers, #$^* It!!
my brother has red hair, but he's no fearsome fighter. : )
Cause there isn't any Who has been a knock Out Red-Headed Man
Except Bozo when I was 5.
"The bottom line is that the Scots, both Lowlanders and Highlanders, like the Irish, and for that matter the English, are an amalgam of several western and northern European peoples."
Agreed.
Yet even though I am an "amalgam", I am perfectly proud of my northern and western European racial heritage.
I'm a Neanderthal fan, who knew.
I've just been conversing over the years with the guys, and their sister and mom, who own the local tire shop, who are all red haired, Irish, and pretty crazy...nice people, though. Their surname is in my family, so we like talking about Irish stuff.
So, should I read the book?...I recall your stating on a thread once that most Europeans were Celts of one stripe or another? IIRC, you backed it up pretty well.
BTW trivial item remembered from a long ago Parade Sunday magazine. Blonds have an avg of 120,000 hair folicles on their scalp. Brunettes average 105,000. Redheads 85,000.
A search of Redhead brings up a host of websites where their is an angst for their downtrodden nature! Wanted to link to an image but these sites won't allow a "view the source" html look see! And at several of the sites you "have to be a redhead to join"! One site vows to "fight redism!"
Don't be insulted. I too am a redhead of Scottish decent and I am proud to carry the genes of a human species, so far, vastly more successful than the so-called modern type. We neanderthals lasted 200,000 years or so.
grace kelly looked aryan because her mother was german
thanks for the reply!
I guess the migration of the Scots-Irish to the south explains a lot, since I am also a southern girl.
Are you saying that the carpet doesn't always match the drapes?
I dont think they are all gone. I know a few that would qualify as Neanderthals. One has red hair.
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Leonardo DaVinci (yes, an Italian with red hair, rumored to be the most beautiful man in Florence in his youth), George Bernard Shaw and, I believe, Robert E Lee all had red hair
YW, I have never met a downtrodden redhead in my life and I was one of 5 out of 14 grandchildren.
LOL, maked me want to stomp on you for even thinking such a thing. ;-)
I don't know about the follicle thing. You could pull out half my hair and I would still have thicker hair than most people I know.
What about the woodpile theory - Leaves me speechless.
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