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Dark skinned, blue eyed 10,000 year old British hunter


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Hello,

I was searching something about DNA and I found this good article.

Over a century ago, the Cheddar man was unearthed in Gough's cave in Somerset. Back then researchers didn't have the technology to determine the eye and skin colour of the man but with the advancements in genetic research they found out he was dark skinned with blue eyes.

Black-Skinned-British-Hunter.jpg

Check the link above if you're interested :)

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6 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Skin colour didn't start changing to a lighter tone until about 2000 years later. Great piece of modelling.

So previously known/proven? Still they seem have shown this through the genome which is amazing. Black skin blue eyes would look odd today!

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8 minutes ago, druS said:

So previously known/proven? Still they seem have shown this through the genome which is amazing. Black skin blue eyes would look odd today!

While rare, you are aware that they are still around, including a handful of celebrities?

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52 minutes ago, druS said:

So previously known/proven? Still they seem have shown this through the genome which is amazing. Black skin blue eyes would look odd today!

The genes for green/grey/blue eyes would have already been there for it to be selected. In northern latitudes, dark skin was probably a disadvantage with regards to vitamin D formation and probably caused all sorts of health problems/disadvantages, and those born with lighter skin were adapted better and, as such, healthier/more competitive for resources and mating opportunities but, apparently, the important trigger  may have been increasing lactose tolerance brought about by the advent of farming with dairy produce which allowed a dietary source of vitamin D to be consumed. Put those two factors together the selection veered strongly in favour of lighter skin. Farming started about 8000 years ago, hence why I said it would be another 2000 years from Cheddar Man.

Edited by StringJunky
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The appearance of blue eyes and dark skin in northern genetics has occurred more than once in the past 10,000 years although we don't have any records of the existence of major civilizations for more than 8,000 years ago. One more recent example is around a thousand years ago where children of scandinavians employed in the Varangian guard received blue eyes from their fathers and dark skin from their mothers. That's interesting as a similar process would require a currently unknown northern civilisation.  

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6 hours ago, CharonY said:

While rare, you are aware that they are still around, including a handful of celebrities?

Well no, and I would have assumed in celebs that it wasn't natural. Of course there is racial harmony and mixing these days, but that would be a different issue wouldn't it>

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8 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Farming started about 8000 years ago

Make that 11000 years ago.

(8000 years ago agriculture got started in South America, and by that time it had already been flourishing in China for over a 1000 years) 

Edited by MarkE
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2 hours ago, MarkE said:

Make that 11000 years ago.

(8000 years ago agriculture got started in South America, and by that time it had already been flourishing in China for over a 1000 years) 

I'm on about using milk products in Europe and Cheddar man is British. I've lost the article for that figure but this one puts it at a bit  less:  7200 - 6800 years. The souring of milk was important to convert the lactose to lactic acid which allowed people in Europe to consume vitamin D and not rely so much on sunshine.

Quote

The earliest perforated pottery sieves known to date are from Linearbandkeramik sites in interior central Europe, between 5200 and 4800 cal BC.

https://www.thoughtco.com/dairy-farming-ancient-history-171199

 

Edited by StringJunky
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5 minutes ago, michel123456 said:

There may be confusion between 8.000 ago and 8.000 BC. There is a 2.000 years gap between the 2 figures.

Also I thought I knew that agriculture started somewhere in Mesopotamia. In the British islands it must be much more recent.

 

 

That's quite possible that i mixed up. Yes, I would think it started later. 

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