Were the first Cro Magnon Europeans mostly light skinned, freckled red heads?

Question

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/so-just-how-dark-skinned-were-the-first-europeans/

My own theory, up for scrutiny.

Two variants of the ginger gene seem to be about 80,000 years old. This would have given them light skin even before the recent (6 to 12k) light skin mutation. It's about ten times old than the mutation for blond (8 to 10K).

Just ignore the Neanderthal age for the gene if it disturbs your OOA theories.

Has anyone tested their remains for MCR1 mutations?

Answer 1

I suspect a much earlier origin in Eurasia, possibly older than the 80,000 years and maybe as long as a million (i.e before we were H. sapiens).  Environmental factors favoring the lighter skin were present since then.  The large population of humans was spread from Africa to Eurasia.  Perhaps there were also large populations of our recent ancestors as well.  Those in Africa had constant genetic pressure to retain dark skin as well as other characteristics for the tropical climate.  So there was a near constant interchange of genes across the Eurasian and African Continents but since the pressure to retain the climate adapted characteristics was strong, the races retained their distinctness while at the same time remaining in the same species but gradually change over time as well.  Those genes, such as the one from the so called mitochondrial Eve (Not one of her mitochondrial DNA, she may have had some other advantageous gene), were retained in all human populations.  Perhaps there were many other "mitochondrial eves" as well.  I am skeptical of Neanderthal contribution until I see some more evidence but I think the dates you propose are not unreasonable.  When there is a distinct advantage, evolution may occur quickly.

Answer 2

Why haven't I heard of DNA anaysis of Cro Mags, since they seem to be able to extract DNA from Neandertals?

And Mathilda, how did you put that picture on your profile?  I can only seem to use a Yahoo Avatar.

Answer 3

It seems to me that the "Neanderthal chicks" could take care of themselves.

Answer 4

Having reviewed the pros & cons of neandertal gene introgression, I strongly suspect you are correct.  Among the most compelling evidence is purely circumstantial (even though archaic genes found in Europe & Asia support it).  The simple fact that hair, eyes, & skin tone among modern sapiens is almost an exact match with known neandertal ranges is a coincidence thaat must be taken into account by any thinking person.

These +1,000,000 old genes found only in Africa, Europe or Asia could not have been invented by the invisible man in the sky, then inserted by magic in a species that appears to be less than 300,000 yrs old.  The idea that neandertal, erectus & sapien were separate species that could not produce fertile hybrids is most likely pure poppy c**k perpetrated by the out of Arica crowd & other theologists.  As an engineer, I see their protestations over ancient gene introgression as more poorly supported hypothesis than science.

I could fill the page with genes that support my conjecture, but suspect you are already aware of this evidence.  I would not go so far as to say cro-magnon was red headed, but it is entirely possible because I suspect they'd been in Europe much longer than fossil evidence indicates.

Answer 5

now I wanna see someone test their remains, themselves!!!! LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i always thought lightskinned, freckle faced redheads were irish. LOL

Answer 6

Well it seems unlikely that was the norm, because they had migrated from Africa to a more northern climate not so long ago. They would have needed dark skin for protection of the sun in Africa. It's more plausible that the ginger gene could have shown up that long ago in a small minority of European Cro Magnons, but it wouldn't have spread to the majority.

Answer 7

I always thought that the first Cro-Magnon were tall slender, yet robust, olive-skinned individuals (kinda like some pro-basketball players) from the Caucasus, and after they defeated the short, stocky, neanderthal chaps (They had them out-numbered, because demographers say that there were never more than 10,000 Neanderthals worldwide, at any one time), then they would "party" with the willing red-haired, blue-eyed, pale skinned, long-nosed, RH--, Neanderthal chicks, who no longer had any men to protect them, and this is how Hybrids were formed, and possibly contributed to the disappearance of pure Neanderthal genes (by being absorbed into Homo sapiens sapiens), and perhaps this mixture was responsible for the final transition from Archaic homo sapiens, to who we are today!

Answer 8

I suspect they bore a very strong resemblance to Gordon Brown and his cronies