Cheddar Man shows white skin could be a recent phenomenon

[yuiyoshida]

[dchill]

1. If I didn't already know about Cheddar Man...

I would have thought you were posting about someone else...

[bucolic_frolic]

2. lol that's subtle!

[dchill]

3. Really? I'm not generally known for that.

[brush]

7. Cheddar is orange, now that you hinted at it.

[Marcuse]

4. Natural selection in high latitudes promotes lighter skin over time.

The sunlight is less concentrated away from the equator and the suddenly unneeded protective melanin sunblock inhibits production of Vitamin D.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/human-skin-color-variation/modern-human-diversity-skin-color

[DBoon]

5. I read a variation on this

Light skin was an adaptation to grain based diets of the neolithic, which were deficient in vitamin D.

The first farmers who migrated into Europe from the middle east carried the trait for lighter skin along with farming technology and agricultural societies.

[Marcuse]

9. The Inuit ate fish. They stayed dark.

[DBoon]

10. exactly

they know man does not live by barley pudding alone

[milestogo]

6. I assumed Cheddar man would be a Cheesehead - Packer fan.

[Honeycombe8]

8. Interesting.

I wonder how they can tell that he had blue eyes and dark skin? Does DNA testing show that?

The skin color makes sense, if ancient man all came from Africa. Their skin may have gradually lightened over the years.

Who knows, though. Maybe this tribe mixed with another, lighter skinned one. Fascinating.

[Blue Owl]

11. Lookin' sharp

n/t