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?
Lv 7
? asked in Social ScienceAnthropology · 8 years ago

How would you feel if Neanderthal DNA was discovered to be the origin of light hair/complexion/and/or eyes?

. . . if it turns out to so be . . . or if it has been established, one way or the other, if anyone knows . . .

I do not know if there have, or have not, been any studies done about this. This question is simple curiosity. It may well be coincidental/parallel evolutionary processes in the two species.

It is so far known that Neanderthals did have red haired, light complexioned (including freckles), and blue eyed individuals. This fits in with the model of those characteristics being more prevalent in the Northwestern European general area. That is: it places those characteristics in the same general locale as Neanderthals were known to have also been located. It is also well established that there was intermingling of homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthals did not just "become extinct/disappear", their genes were absorbed/combined into our common genetic pool.

"They're" lurking about in there somewhere . . . or is it "we" :-) ?

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  • 8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Nothing special.

    I admit I could have 1 to 4 % of neanderthal DNA. So what? By the way, most are non coding DNA sequences

    Besides that, hair and skin color is not an evolution, it's way faster, it's just the expression or not of already existing genes. Melanin coding gene existed in ancestral East-African Home sapiens population which spread all over the World.

    Maybe, especially if you're American, you equal African to black. That's because African-Americans came from a dozen of West African ethnic groups among the blackest in Africa.

    H. sapiens migrating out of Africa with a small part of our ancestral gene pool had all the genetic material to adapt to various climates and/or fashion (yes, sexual selection is part of natural selection), exactly the same way Neanderthals did before with a similar material.

  • 5 years ago

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  • ?
    Lv 6
    8 years ago

    I would feel some scientist had validated erroneous information and or misinterpreted some data. It is understood pretty well that humans developed lighter skin during the last ice age epoch in order to process vitamin d with the decreased amount of sunlight available at this time(ice age=cold & dark)

    It has also been hypothesized that White skin is only about 6k years old.- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-121... This hypothesis is centered around the development of farming that took other sources of vitamin d out of human diet.

    Its pretty safe to assume Neanderthal did not farm and probably was not around when humans began doing so.

    Neanderthal more than likely developed light skin for the same reasons homo sapiens did-only seceral 10's opf thousands of years prior. Neanderthal was basically an ice age creation although early archaeological findings show Neanderthal to possibly have suffered from rickets in older fossils but did not in later ones pointing to Neanderthal possible having had dark skin to begin with as well.

    EDIT:

    also i dont think enough interbreeding took place for that to take hold its only the 4% Neandertha dna present today at the highest. if you look at Europeans with say 3 to 10% African dna they only look like they have good tans

  • Completely meaningless as the origin of blue eyes have been traced to a specific vilage in the area now known as turkey and people with blonde hair tend to have lower than average amounts of Neanderthal DNA.

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  • Shansi
    Lv 5
    8 years ago

    Red hair in Neanderthals weren't common and the DNA responsible for it is not present in red haired humans. Red haired in humans are most likely an independent mutation.

    Similarly, Neandarthal admixture is present not only in European population but also in Asian, particularly northeastern (China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan - the east asian). It is widespread in the Eurasian continent in general.

    All brown eyes are blue eyes at first. The color only changes to brown because of the production of melanin. You can literally kill most melanin in your eyes with laser and you'll get a lighter color. There is actually a procedure for this.

    Much of Neanderthal's contributions were in our immune system to help us adjust quickly to Eurasian diseases.

    A side note: blue eyes, red hair, blonde hair - all of that have independently mutated in different parts of the world. Blue eyes have appeared in individuals in Africa and China with the Chinese one being good for night vision (he can see well in the dark but not during the day). It obviously won't spread as there is no advantage since we sleep during the night. Blonde hair can also be found in Aboriginals of Australia. Red hair and blonde hair (mixed with black usually) are also found in some ethnic minorities in SOutheast Asians.

  • 8 years ago

    I thought it was Human Erectus and some of them had very light blond hair , light complexioned.

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