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| Europe |
| Cavegirls were first blondes to have fun |
| 2006-02-28 |
| THE modern gentleman may prefer blondes. But new research has found that it was cavemen who were the first to be lured by flaxen locks. According to the study, north European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males. The study argues that blond hair originated in the region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago. Until then, humans had the dark brown hair and dark eyes that still dominate in the rest of the world. Almost the only sustenance in northern Europe came from roaming herds of mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses. Finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men. Lighter hair colours, which started as rare mutations, became popular for breeding and numbers increased dramatically, according to the research, published under the aegis of the University of St Andrews. “Human hair and eye colour are unusually diverse in northern and eastern Europe (and their) origin over a short span of evolutionary time indicates some kind of selection,” says the study by Peter Frost, a Canadian anthropologist. Frost adds that the high death rate among male hunters “increased the pressures of sexual selection on early European women, one possible outcome being an unusual complex of colour traits.” Frost’s theory, to be published this week in Evolution and Human Behavior, the academic journal, was supported by Professor John Manning, a specialist in evolutionary psychology at the University of Central Lancashire. “Hair and eye colour tend to be uniform in many parts of the world, but in Europe there is a welter of variants,” he said. “The mate choice explanation now being put forward is, in my mind, close to being correct.” Frost’s theory is also backed up by a separate scientific analysis of north European genes carried out at three Japanese universities, which has isolated the date of the genetic mutation that resulted in blond hair to about 11,000 years ago. The hair colour gene MC1R has at least seven variants in Europe and the continent has an unusually wide range of hair and eye shades. In the rest of the world, dark hair and eyes are overwhelmingly dominant. Just how such variety emerged over such a short period of time in one part of the world has long been a mystery. According to the new research, if the changes had occurred by the usual processes of evolution, they would have taken about 850,000 years. But modern humans, emigrating from Africa, reached Europe only 35,000-40,000 years ago. Instead, Frost attributes the rapid evolution to how they gathered food. In Africa there was less dependence on animals and women were able to collect fruit for themselves. In Europe, by contrast, food gathering was almost exclusively a male hunter’s preserve. The retreating ice sheets left behind a landscape of fertile soil with plenty of grass and moss for herbivorous animals to eat, but few plants edible for humans. Women therefore took on jobs such as building shelters and making clothes while the men went on hunting trips, where the death rate was high. The increase in competition for males led to rapid change as women struggled to evolve the most alluring qualities. Frost believes his theory is supported by studies which show blonde hair is an indicator for high oestrogen levels in women. Jilly Cooper, 69, the author, described how in her blonde youth she had “certainly got more glances. I remember when I went to Majorca when I was 20, my bum was sore from getting pinched”. However, Jodie Kidd, 27, the blonde model, disagrees with the theory: “I don’t think being blonde makes you more ripe for sexual activity. It’s much more to do with personality than what you look like. Beauty is much deeper than the colour of your hair.” Film star blondes such as Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Sharon Stone and Scarlett Johansson are held up as ideals of feminine allure. However, the future of the blonde is uncertain. A study by the World Health Organisation found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the WHO study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #23 detecting movement in the peripheral vision, which would be a useful adaptation... Or warning of the husband's return. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 22:23 |
| #22 Thanks for the correction Darrel. The color of the Iris does affect the amount of light entering the eye, by a significant amount. Seen at its most extreme in albinos who have no Iris pigmentation and are often highly sensitive to bright lights. Iris (eye) color doesn't seem to affect visual acuity in high light levels, but there is evidence lightly pigmented (blue) eyes are more sensitive in low light conditions and detecting movement in the peripheral vision, which would be a useful adaptation for a hunter in northern areas with their extended periods of twilight. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-02-28 22:20 |
| #21 Heh -- Rantburg University at it's best! |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-02-28 21:37 |
| #20 And then we sent Darwin to the showers in the 7th... |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 21:19 |
| #19 it still doesn't make sense. if there were more men than women, the men don't get to choose who they mate with. In this scenario, ALL women are desirable. Thus, there is no differential selection favoring blonde women. If the MEN were blonde, and that was somehow more desired, then these blonde men would be more likely to be chosen to reproduce. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2006-02-28 21:12 |
| #18 The mutations (X # genes) have to happen before they can be passed on. Some mutations, such as light skin, are so beneficial at extreme latitudes that they are almost universal and across races. Others such as blonde or redhead are about neutral to survival and propagate based piggybacking on other factors like conquest or high social status of the initial mutants (therefore higher survial rate, hemophilia and the royals sound familiar?) of the ancestors. Blondes are a northwest European mutation, while redheads (another gene) showed up in another population. There is no requirement (or even much probability in such a small population) that either mutation must show up in eskimos. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 20:35 |
| #17 Finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men. And this differs from today how? I never saw a race by the feminist to the dangerous jobs [miners, alaska fishing, etc]. Even some of the rare dangerous jobs which have some numbers show up [police, fire, military] they are greatly out numbered by males. We have seen a explosion of soft academic programs [not the engineering, math, hard sciences, the old agricultural/mechanical] largely filled by the females since the 50s. The tendency is that males even today carry the responsibility of group's survival in the dirty side of the house. How many social units survive first contact where the males practice risk avoidance? |
| Posted by: Gromoque Glaish6758 2006-02-28 20:26 |
| #16 #4 "Lightly pigmented corneas (blue, gray, green eyes), allow in more light and give better vision under low light conditions" Corneas are not pigmented -- irises are. And irises are designed to control the amount of light by adjusting pupil size, not by having color. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-02-28 20:23 |
| #15 Oh, okay, NS. You can have a PhD, too, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 20:14 |
| #14 high melanin is not necessary for survival in cold climates, therefore blondes and reds have as much chance for survival in cold climates (actually slighly more since light colors radiate less heat). Is that why so may eskimos are blue eyed blonds? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-02-28 20:09 |
#13 I agree. He works out all the time. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 20:04 |
| #12 One will do .com. Holding up those puppies for thorough study can tire out my arms. Clinton had a lot more practice with heavy lifting. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 20:00 |
| #11 The were also redheaded Celts on the Eurasian steppes. Mongolian food didn't agree with them. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 19:55 |
| #10 They were almost exclusively restricted to the British Islands. I thought there were redheads in Mesopotamia and the Persian/Afghan regions, too. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-02-28 19:52 |
| #9 Just one, ed? Clinton needs dozens... sure you don't want some more? A redhead, brunette, and jet black would complete the set, heh. BTW - you deserve the PhD. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 19:51 |
| #8 Phil, what did the Romans have to say about the freckles? |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 19:50 |
| #7 Thanks .com. I want to hire her as my reseach assistant. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 19:48 |
| #6 Dang commas. So, what So what, |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-02-28 19:43 |
| #5 I'm confused, phil_b - is that a request or rhetorical? ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 19:41 |
| #4 Lightly pigmented corneas (blue, gray, green eyes), allow in more light and give better vision under low light conditions and less pigmentation (melanine) allows more vitamin D production under low sunlight. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-02-28 19:40 |
| #3 So what about redheads? They were almost exclusively restricted to the British Islands. Numerous Romans commented on the many people in Britain with red hair, and that they had never encountered red haired people elsewhere. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-02-28 19:34 |
| #2 Oh yeah, it's the blonde hair. That's it. Yup. Terpsboy, of course, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-28 19:33 |
| #1 **cough**bullshit**cough** Men with screw any women they have access to. Try this: high melanin is not necessary for survival in cold climates, therefore blondes and reds have as much chance for survival in cold climates (actually slighly more since light colors radiate less heat). Now give me my PhD and a large NIH grant for a hands on study of breast size vs mating success. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-28 19:29 |
