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Redheads May Date Back 200K Years

Scientists find evidence of flame-haired Neanderthals

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 26, 2007 10:15 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Redheads made up at least 1% of the Neanderthal population, scientists have found by extracting genetic material from fossilized bones. The analyzed DNA yielded a gene that controls melanin production in skin and hair. "We can't say anything for the actual fossils we looked at, but we can be sure that part of the Neanderthal population was red-haired," says one researcher.

Light hair and skin were beneficial in Ice Age Europe (where Neanderthals lived} because of the low sunlight and UV levels; lack of pigment lets skin absorb more light and make more vitamin D. And Neanderthals weren't alone: the new discovery comes after another study that showed that some woolly mammoths also may have had red hair.

Carrot Top is living proof.
Carrot Top is living proof.   (KRT Photos)
SCIENCE-PALAEONTOLOGY-NEANDERTHALS
SCIENCE-PALAEONTOLOGY-NEANDERTHALS   (Getty Images (by Event))
Red hair first occurred in northern Europe as a mutation. Now scientists speculate that redheads could be extinct in 100 years.
Red hair first occurred in northern Europe as a mutation. Now scientists speculate that redheads could be extinct in 100 years.   (Shutterstock.com)
Steven Wright At The 5th Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize
Steven Wright At The 5th Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize   (Getty Images)
Neanderthal pinup?
Neanderthal pinup?   (Archive Photos)
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Abstract of the journal article
Science

A critic of the single-gene approach weighs in
Bloomberg

Redheads are fading away
Associated Press

 
redhead • Neanderthals

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