Is skin pigment really considered a form of evolution?

Question

If it's true that all people originated from Africa or the Middle East and that skin pigment developed due to geographical location, i.e. black people originating from Africa are black due to the enviroment there and white people originating from North Europe are white due to enviroment there and all inbetween etc, then how can the pigment of humanities skin be traced through evolution? Is there evidence to this or is it like most things in science that can't be proven absolute and it's pretty much just theory?

Answer 1

Actually, skin color is even more fascinating than you might have thought. There are four skin colors, black, brown, red, yellow. Each race has differing amounts of each, from zero to quite a bit. This is dependent on what was needed for protection in that area.

In Africa, there is a lot of sun. All the pigmentation that the skin could make was needed, so Africans tended to keep all four colors more. Asians tend to have more of the reds and yellows, as do Mediterranean and mideastern cultures.

Those souls whose ancestors spent a lot of time in northern Europe and Northern Asia, really didn't have to worry about the sun. Blocking it too much would cause problems. They have lost all the pigmentation genes, for the most part.

Basically, humans probably started out with all four colors, but various groups lost one or another over time with lack of need.

You might consider reading "The Journey of Man" by Spencer Wells, to get a little more details on evolution and how humans spread across the earth.

Answer 2

Assuming that characteristics of living things come about through evolution, pigmentation is not a "FORM" of evolution, it is a RESULT of evolution, that is a response to the environment. Evolution is a process, pigmentation and other characteristics are some of the results derived from this process. The results are not the process, and the process does not constitute the results. Hey! We can't even "prove absolutely" that the sun will come up tomorrow morning, because a dark asteroid could come along tonight and pull us out of the sun's orbit, cast the earth into darkness forever; but that doesn't mean that the expectation that the sun will, after all, come up as usual is "pretty much just theory". Scientists don't base theories and hypotheses on absolute proof, and, what's more, neither do you and I in our everyday lives. We temporarily accept some theories because they best account for all known facts, and we trust others even more if they predict future phenomena. Has the theory of evolution ever predicted anything that subsequently came to pass, or does it simply account for the existence of different creatures somewhat resembling people, apes, and monkeys in the past and present? I don't know that the theory of evolution has yet predicted the emergence of a new species that indeed emerged, but this would be a somewhat unfair test, since mankind's life on earth is short and the emergence of new species is a slow process of gradual change. I've got an idea: Ask somebody else! Here's the short form answer: "I dunno."

Answer 3

Contrary to popular belief (because the majority of the population doesn't know any better) it is just another theory. Can't be proven absolutely, but people really like to cling to this train of thought because it gives them the feeling that we're really making progress, when we're really just taking another step down the wrong road.

Answer 4

Yes, over history people have devoloped darker skin in more sunny climates so they'll get more protection from the sun rays, it's more like adaptation then evolution. People near the equater adapted to the sun with darker skin.