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
The incidence of red hair in Libya is the same as it is in Ireland.
linoleum????
Nawww...
I am a redhead of Irish decent and I think it's funny, and if true interesting. My IQ and education are sufficient enough to survive any perceived slur.
One exception involves a band of armed men seizing a weaker population, killing off the local men, and mating with the women. Although the new leadership elite might be expected to impose it's language on the conquered population, actually the reverse occurs as the children grow up speaking their mother's language which she taught them.
What that means is you can't follow language trends to see who won.
Another exception involves immigration. Immigrants eventually adopt the language of the original population.
There's yet another more recent exception to the exceptions. DNA studies demonstrate that there's no difference between the people presently living in Iraq and those living in Iran. However, the Iranians speak an Indo-European, not Semitic, language. Apparantly a band of armed men moved in, took over, and imposed their language on the locals. This also happened in Hungary, Estonia and Finland when invading Mongols imposed an Altaic-Uralic tongue on the conquered Germanic populations.
BTW, the Nazis had a need to have all Western European people originate in the Baltics ~ it wasn't just a need to have some starting point ~ they used it as the foundation of their racial purity theories and laws ~ they killed millions of people for not having had such origins (despite the fact that no one had such origins anyway).
When it comes to written records, they are not necessarily perfect guides. Then, too, some of the written records are far older than ever suspected ~ a good example are the Sumerican records prepared by the folks who invented writing. Many of them ended up in the Bible ~ this despite the thousands of years separating them and the Book.
Concerning the "millions of Celts" just popping up, we have a couple of million people today who are descendants of two American presidents ~ John Adams and William Henry Harrison. The daughter of one married the grandson of the other and they had something like 23 children. They, each in turn, had numerous marriages, and dozens of children, and that generation then begat an even larger generation. You get "millions of Celts" after the same fashion. Just a few generations of "good livin'" and lots of sex, and there it is!
(I have a very keen interest in genealogy, culture and DNA and have done a lot of my own research into this area.)
Exactly what I was thinking. I love red hair!
an interesting thread, at leat IMO.
I'm sorry, I don't remember for sure. I read an awful lot of anthropology/archaeology books by educated people...it was likely in the book, Eden In The East, by Dr Stephen Oppenheimer.
Check this out. Maybe you'll find it as thought provoking as I did.
The artist who painted that seems to have something of a problem with eye symmetry...
"Lady Godiva" c.1898
John Collier
posted on FR long before my time, nearly four years ago:
Redheads 'are neanderthal'
Culture/Society News
Source: Times UK
Posted on 04/17/2001 07:38:43 PDT by sirgawain
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3adc5573604d.htm
Gene for Red Hair May Help Suppress Pain in Women
Reuters via Yahoo ^ | March 24, 2003 | Linda Carroll
Posted on 03/25/2003 5:57:32 AM PST by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/874932/posts
Gene Study Identifies 5 Main Human Populations
New York Times ^ | 12-20-02 | Nicholas Wade
Posted on 12/21/2002 3:54:34 AM PST by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/810321/posts
Neanderthal 'Face' Found Loire
BBC ^ | 12-3-2003 | Jonothan Amos
Posted on 12/03/2003 3:38:10 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1033355/posts
Neanderthals 'Had Hands Like Ours'
BBC ^ | 3-27-2003 | Helen Briggs
Posted on 03/27/2003 3:07:42 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/877668/posts
Neanderthal Hunters Rivalled Human Skill
BBC ^ | 9-23-2003 | Will Knight
Posted on 09/24/2003 8:19:27 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/988511/posts
Neanderthal Skeleton Rediscovered
BBC ^ | 9-4-2002 | Dr David Whitehouse
Posted on 09/05/2002 7:24:37 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/745047/posts
New Twist On Out-Of-Africa Theory
ABC Science News ^ | 7-14-2004 | Judy Skatssoon
Posted on 07/14/2004 8:53:47 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1171229/posts
London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals...
Planet Save.com ^ | 1/14/05 | Planet Save.com
Posted on 01/16/2005 12:47:07 PM PST by IGBT
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1322006/posts
The Relationship Between The Basque And Ainu
High Speed Plus ^ | 1996 | Edo Nyland
Posted on 06/25/2004 3:44:16 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1160355/posts
When Humans Faced Extinction
BBC ^ | 6-10-2003 | Dr David Whitehouse
Posted on 06/10/2003 8:05:32 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/926315/posts
Why Humans and Their Fur Parted Ways
The New York Times (Science Times) ^ | August 19, 2003 | Nicholas Wade
Posted on 08/19/2003 5:41:06 AM PDT by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/966532/posts
bump
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Eric Stlotz? Rocky Dennis, I know someone is going to post a picture of Rocky Dennis!
Thanks for the link and information on the book. I will look it up.
Cheers !
Yes . . . I alwaays suspected something like that about Mrs. Lurkin
That's a good looking filly in that picture.
I'm talking about the horse... :)
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