Did Europeans get skin, hair & eye color from Neanderthal?

Question

Because we have found evidence indicating at least one introgressed gene appeared in the M.E. 37,000 yrs ago & spread to 70% of the population (remaining very rare in Sub Saharan Africa) is it reasonable to develop the hypothesis that Europeans got their hair, skin & eye color from Neanderthal due to their closer association with that group. For some reason only Europeans developed these traits.
Other groups that occupy a simular environment to Europeans did not develop light hair or eyes & Europeans did have the most prolonged contact with the Neanderthal.
Before some of you give me the obsolete stuff about no evidence of Neanderthal & Homo Sapien having interbred, read the following links. Bruce Lahn's team from U of Chicago found a 1.1 million yr old gene that suddenly appeared in a species that was only 200K yrs old... this gene "introgressed" into the human genome 37,000 yrs ago.
http://www.sflorg.com/sciencenews/scn110706_03.html
http://www.johnhawks.net/weblog/2004/11/0

paintmeblue... the acquiring of knowledge is important to anthropology, that is what it is all about.

waffelhouse: I'm not interested in later accomplishments of Europeans... I only question the gene found by genetic researchers & have concluded that the Neandertal is the probable contributer of said gene... Most of the World has that gene because our ancestors all came from Africa through the ME then spread out. The Neanderthal were in the ME & Europe.

Sorry this question was posted twice... that was due to doing several things at once & forgetting that I'd hit the submit button on the question. That cost me 10 points to get one question on the board.

Answer 1

Cool, you posted the same question twice, this is an easy two points, I can just post the same answer.

I think that considering the soft ground that the introduction of this "retrogressed gene" is sitting on as far as it's arrival and dispersal is concerned within contemporary genetics, as I explained in my other posts to you, that to conclude that these characteristics came from neanderthal interbreeding is sketchy at best. To conclude such a hypothesis would also require an untangling of the neanderthal genome project, much like Lahn's other conclusions that attempted to conclude differential intelligence and reasoning based on the introduction of this same gene interaction. And even the neanderthal genome project will not be 100% conclussive given the lack of DNA evidence for other Archaic Homo populations. Also while reading your question, I don't think that it is actually correct to refer to the previous DNA evidence as "obsolete stuff" because after doing some extensive readings on Lahn it has become very apparent that while his ideas are novel and unique, his hypotheses are actually quite reaching and have by no means replaced the genetic evidence that as-of-yet is still solidly entrenched within this area of genetic study. To add that comment is a bit leading as it implies that Lahn's studies have passed through the peer review process and have stood up to the empirical evidence that new hypothesis are put up against. Since neither of these conditions have been completed it is still too early to declare the old evidence as being "obsolete stuff" and to do so is to commit the same error that Lahn committed in being overzealous of a hypothesis still in its infancy. So your actual question is not yet fully answerable given that Lahn's studies have not yet passed through into the body of contemporararily accepted hypotheses, but based on the former school of thought which is still the vast majority of the genetic community, no Europeans did not get their skin, hair & eye colour from neanderthal.

Answer 2

I remember seeing an article in Discover magazine about that. It said that Neanderthals hadn't died out- they'd bred in with Homo Sapiens, in the general area of germany. Interesting stuff, isn't it? Some of the trails of neanderthal genes they mentioned were long forearms, long collar bones, and a high forehead. I can't remember the rest...

What differenance does it make if it is true? Europe was established as a world power long before most of the rest of the world, and look at what they've accomplished since. If thats what neanderthal blood does for people, then I've got no problem with it. Besides, the only reason people think neanderthals are stupid is because people thought they died out. If they didn't die out, there is no reason to think they were less intelligent then homo sapiens. Didn't they have bigger brains the regular Homo sapiens, anyway?

Answer 3

It could be. Various Sources including National Geographic and Scientific American, and scholars + archaeologists worldwide have found a decent amount of proof that Neanderthals Interbred with the group living in Europe at the time. However another reason for the difference in skin tone and eye color may have been the climate. In Africa, there was more sun, and higher temperatures while living in europe for one thousand years gave H Sapiens adaptations to blend in better with the environment. That would explain skin and hair color. Polar bears' fur are clear and either reflects the color of the snow or the color of their skin (i don't remember which) they reflect white so that they blend in better whereas the Black Bear blends into its forested environment better. And i don't know advantages Vs Disadvantages for the eyes concerning climate so that may be becaus eof the Neanderthal Groups that interbred.

Answer 4

well indians in india have green and blue eyes and some races have things europeans don't like chinese not having sweat glands and the eye shape and african hair, the person before me is wrong, europe was way behind asia and the rest of the world for most of history, but yes they eventually did almost conquer the world

Answer 5

I think they get them from the Netherlands.