Neanderthals: weren't they red heads?

[prmystic]

Hi,

I thought that genetic and physical evidence had finally filled in for us information on the hair color of Neanderthals and it turned out to be red.

However I still see, in this article http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php ... -evolution , Neanderthals depected with black hair, and, also, looking rather like Alaskan native populations.

Do we have any settled science on this. It feels a little biased to assume that the Neanderthals looked like Alaksa Natives.

mystic

[Minimalist]

Some HNS apparently had red hair....I don't think anyone is suggesting they all did.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/ ... TaXsFdGgpk

[circumspice]

HNS probably had as much variation in hair, skin & eye color as HSS does.

[prmystic]

Thank you so much for the link! I found the article quite interesting and much more complete than average.

It seems that, although the work done was limited to two specimens, these were found at a great remove from each other and both exhibited the same genetic marker, which tends to suggest that they both were red heads.

Also it seems that we do not have any genetic evidence that contradicts this.

Also, the theory appears to be that evolution of lighter pigmentation would take place over a long time, so, as the author points out, it was more likely that the Neanderthal population was fair and the HSS was "swarthy."

However, our reverse impression seems to have quite a strong hold.

mystic