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Author Topic: Ancient Roma - "Afro Hair"
malibudusul
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http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/counting-gods/

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http://www.flickriver.com/photos/roger_ulrich/4175870263/

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malibudusul
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matronae2.jpg
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the lioness is a guy IRL
cassiterides banned yet again
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^ complete retard.

Those are head-dresses, not their natural hair texture.

The women wearing the head-dresses are married, while those wearing their hair loose not married.

These are also Western European (Gaulish), not Roman.

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Ase
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The ones without the puffs look like they're sporting cornrows lol in that link, anyways.
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Confirming Truth
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You fucking guys are ridiculous! It's like, I'm in some Bizarro world or something! What is wrong with you people w/the self-hate?!?!?!?!

It is obvious they're damn head-dresses!!

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"Matres and Matrones appear depicted on both stones with inscriptions and without, both as altars and votives. All depictions are frontal, they appear almost exclusively in threes with at least one figure holding a basket of fruit in her lap, and the women are either standing or sitting. In some depictions, the middle figure is depicted with loose hair and wearing a headband, and the other two wear head dresses."

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matres_and_Matrones

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malibudusul
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Slave?
[Big Grin]

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http://www.blackpast.org/?q=perspectives/roman-slavery-and-question-race

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malibudusul
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Ancient Roman Seaman found
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http://romanarch.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html

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zarahan aka Enrique Cardova
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 -


Ancient Egyptian hair

Across the web assorted "biodiversity" proponents, wage a
'racial war' using hair studies of ancient Egyptians to prove a
"Caucasian Egypt". But in fact the hair of Africans is highly
variable, debunking their simplistic claims.


The hair of Africans is highly variable, ranging from tight curls
of South African Bantu, to the loose curls and straight hair of
peoples of East and NE Africa, all indigenously evolved over
millennia as part of Africa’s high genetic diversity. This
diversity undermines and ultimately dismisses simplistic
"racial" claims based on hair.


Inconsistencies of the skewed "true negro" model and
definitions of African hair



Dubious assertions, double standards and outmoded racial
hair claims:

Czech anthropologist Strouhal's 1971 study touched on hair,
and advanced the most extreme racial definitions, claiming
Nubians to be white Europids overrun by later waves of
Negroes, and that few Negroes appeared in Egypt until the New
Kingdom. Indeed, Strouhal went so far as to argue that
'Negroes' failed to survive long in Egypt, because they were
ill-adapted to its arid climate! Tell that to the Saharans,
Sudanese and Nubians! Such dubious claims have been
thoroughly debunked by modern scholarship, however they
continue in various guises by those who attempt to use "hair" to
assign race 'percents' and categories to the ancients. Attempts to
define racial categories based on the ancient hair rely heavily
on extreme definitions, with "Negroids" typically being defined
as narrowly as possible. Everything not meeting the extreme
"type" is then classified as something else, such as "Caucasian".

Kieta (1990, Studies of Crania from Northern Africa) notes that
while many scholars in the field have used an extreme "true
negro" definition for African peoples, few have attempted to
apply the same model in reverse and define a "true white."
Such racial double standards are typical of much scholarship on
the ancient Nile Valley peoples. A consistent approach for
example would define the straight hair in Strouhal's hair sample
as an exclusive Caucasian marker (10 out of 49 or
approximately 20%) and make the rest (wavy and curled)
hybrid or negro, at >80%. Assorted writers who support the
Aryan race percent model however, are careful to avoid such
consistency and typically only run the comparison one way.

QUOTE:
"Strouhal (1971) microscopically examined some hair which
had been preserved on a Badarian skull. The analysis was
interpreted as suggesting a stereotypical tropical
African-European hybrid (mulatto). However this hair is
grossly no different from that of Fulani, some Kanuri, or
Somali and does not require a gene flow explanation any more
than curly hair in Greece necessarily does. Extremely "wooly"
hair is not the only kind native to tropical Africa.."
(S. O. Y.
Keita. (1993). "Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian
Biological Relationships," History in Africa 20 (1993) 129-54)



Disturbing attempts to use hair to prove race theories:

Fletcher (2002) in Egyptian Hair and Wigs, gives an example
of what she calls "disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender"
involving 1800s European
researcher F. Petrie, who sometimes sought to use excavation
reports to prove his theories of Aegean settlers flowing into
Egypt. Such disturbing attempts continue today in the use of
hair for race category or percentage claims involving the
ancient peoples, such as the "racial" analysis seen on several
Internet blogs and websites, some thinly disguised fronts for
neo-nazi groups or sympathizers.

Hair study applied a stereotyped "true negro" model and used
late period samples of Egypt, after the coming of Greeks,
Hyskos, etc as "representative" excluding the previous 2500
years of ancient civilization. A study of the hair of Egyptian
mummies by Czech anthropologists Titlbachova and Titllbach
(1977) (reported in Strouhal 1977) using only late period
samples found a wide range of hair in mummies. Of the 14
samples, only 4 were from the south of Egypt, and none of the
14 samples were earlier than the 18th Dynasty. Essentially the
previous 2,000 years + of Egyptain civilization and peopling
are not represented. Only the narrowest definition is used to
identify 'true negro' types'. All other intermediate types were
deemed 'non-negroid.' If a similar procedure is used in reverse
and designates only straight hair as a marker of a European,
then only 4 out of 14 or 29% of the samples can be deemed
"Caucasoid." Below is a breakdown of the Czech data:

Sample# 5- 18th-21st dynasties- Deir el medina- curly
Sample# 8- 21st-25th dynasties- hair looks straight
Sample# 11- Late to Greek Period- hair partly wavy
Sample# 18- Late period Egypt- hair fine diameter
Sample# 19- Greek period- wavy hair
Sample# 29- 18-21st Dynasties- Deir El Medina- hair shape
unascertainable - south
Sample# 31- 18-21st dynasties- Deir El Median- wavy to curly
- south
Sample# 33- 21st-25th dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 34- 21st-25th dynasties- shape difficult to determine
Sample# 35- 21st-25th dynasties- wavy shape
Sample# 40- 21-25th Dynasties- hair curly,
Sample# 44- 21-25th Dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 45- 21-25th Dynasties- appears wavy
Sample# 46- Kharga Oasis- 4th-5th centuries AD


Using modern technology, the same Aryan Race models are
undercut with the data actually showing that Egyptians group
closer to Africans than vaunted white Nordics.


"Nordic hair measurements"

Neo-Nazis and sympathizers tout the work of German
researcher Pruner-Bey in the 1800s which derived racial
indexes of hair including Negroes, Egyptians and Germans.
Germanic hair is closer to that of the Egyptians they assert. But
is it as they claim?

(Data of Bruner-Bey 1864- 'On human hair as a race character')
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 69.94
- White Germans: 66.33
Neo-Nazi conclusion: White German Nordics are 'closer'
to Egyptians

Modern data using electron microscopes- Conti-Fuhrman &
Massa (1972). Massa and Masali (1980)

Compare to Pruner Bey's 1864 data:
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 60.02 (modern electron microscope data)
White
Germans: 66.33
___________________________________________________
___________________________
Conclusion using modern microscope data: Negroes much
‘closer’ to Egyptians than Nordics

___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Using hair for race identification as older research does can be
shaky, but even when used, it undercuts ‘Aryan” clams as
shown above.

Fletcher 2002 decries “"disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender..”
Other credible scientists note:

"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2



Environmental factors can influence hair color, and the
Egyptians routinely placed hair from different sources in
mummy wrappings, making claims of "Nordic-haired" or
"white" Egyptians dubious.


Mummification practices and dyeing of hair. Hair
studies of mummies note that color is often influenced by
environmental factors at burial sites. Brothwell and Spearman
(1963) point out that reddish-brown ancient color hair is
usually the result of partial oxidation of the melanin pigment.
Other causes of hair color "blonding" involve bleaching, caused
by the alkaline in the mummification process. Color also varies
due to the Egyptian practice of dyeing hair with henna. Other
samples show individuals lightening the hair using vegetable
colorants. Thus variations in hair color among mummies do not
necessarily suggest the presence of blond or red-haired
Europeans or Near Easterners flitting about Egypt before being
mummified, but the influence of environmental factors.

Egyptian practice of putting locks of hair in mummy
wrappings.
Racial analysis is also made problematic by the
Egyptian practice of burying hair, in many "votive or funerary
deposits buried separately from the body, a practice found from
Predynastic to Roman times despite its frequent omission from
excavation reports." (Fletcher 2002) In examining hair samples
Fletcher (2004) notes that care is needed to determine what is
natural scalp hair, versus hair from a wig, versus hair
extensions to natural locks. Tracking the exact source of hair is
also critical since the Egyptians were known to have placed
locks of hair from different sources among mummy wrappings.
(The Search for Nefertiti, By Joann Fletcher, HarperCollins,
2004, p. 93-94, 96)


Egyptians shaved much of their natural hair off and used
wigs extensively as covering, obtaining much of the hair for
wigs through trade.
Discoveries" of "Aryan" or 'Nordic"
hair are thus hardly 'proof' of incoming Caucasoids, but may
be simply hair purchased from some source and made into a
wig. This is much less dramatic than the exciting picture of
inflowing 'Aryan' hordes.


The ancient Egyptians shaved off much of their own natural
hair as a matter of personal hygiene and custom, and wore wigs
in public. According to the Encyclopedia of body
adornment

(Margo DeMello, 2007, Greenwood Publishing Group, p.
101), "Boys and girls until puberty wore their hair shaved
except for a side locl left on the side of their head. Many
adults- both men and women- also shaved their hair as a way of
coping with heat and lice. However, adults did not go about
bald, and instead wore wigs in public and in private.. Wigs
were initially worn by the elites, but later worn by women of all
classes.."


The widespread use of wigs in ancient Egypt thus complicates
and contradicts attempts at 'racial' analysis. Fletcher (2002)
shows that many Egyptian wigs have been found with what is
defined as straighter 'cynotrichous' hair. This however is hardly
a marker of massive European or Near Eastern presence or
admixture. Fletcher notes that the Egyptians often eschewed
their own personal hair, shaving carefully and using wigs
widely. The hair for these wigs was often obtained through
trade. Indeed -quote - "hair itself being a valuable commodity ranked
alongside gold and incense in account lists from the town of
Kahun."



Egyptian trading links with other regions is well known, and a
commodity like straighter 'cynotrichous' hair could have been
easily obtained via the Sahara, Levant, the Maghreb,
Mediterranean contacts, or even the hair of Asiatic war captives
or casualties from Egypt's numerous conflicts. There is little
need to postulate mass influxes of European admixtures or
populations to account for hair types in wigs. The limb
proportion studies of the ancient Egyptians showing them to be
much more related to tropical types than to Europids, is further
demonstration of the fallacy of using hair as 'proof' of a 'Aryan'
or predominantly European admixed Egypt.



Nubian wigs and wigs in Egypt


Such exchanges or use of hair appear elsewhere in the Nile
valley. Tomb finds show Nubians themselves wearing wigs of
straight hair. But one Nubian from the Royal valley, of the 12th
century, named Maherpra, was found to be wearing a wig
himself, made up of tightly curled 'negroid' hair, on top of his
natural covering (Fletcher 2002). The so-called "Nubian wig"
also appears in Egyptian art relief's depicting daily life, a
stylistic arrangement thought to imitate those found in southern
Egypt or Nubia. Such wigs appear to have been popular with
both Egyptians and Nubians. Fletcher 2004 notes that the
famous queen Nefertiti made frequent use of the Nubian wig:
"Nefertiti and her daughter seem to have set a trend for wearing
the Nubian wig.. a coiffure first worn by Nubian mercenaries
and clearly associated with the military." A detail of a wall
scene in Theban tomb TT.55 shows the queen wearing the
Nubian wig.
Infantrymen from the Nubia. Note both bow and battle-axe
carried into combat.

Nubian infantrymen shown with distinctive Nubian wig. From
Deir el-Bahri, Temple of Hatshepsut New Kingdom,
Eighteenth Dynasty, 1480 B.C.


Hair studies of Nubians show built-in African genetic
variability


Hair studies of Nubians have also been undertaken. One study
at Semna, in Nubia (Daniel Hrdy 1978- Analysis of Hair
Samples of Mummies from Semna South, American Journal of
Physical Anthropology, (1978) 49: 277-262), found curling
patterns intermediate between Northwest European and African
samples. The X-group, especially males, showed more African
elements than the Meroitic in the curling variables. Crimping
and curvature data patterned in a northwest Europe direction.
These data plots however do not necessarily indicate race
admixture or percentages, or the presence of European migrants
or colonists (see Keita 2005 below), but rather a data pattern of
variation in how hair curls, and native African diversity which
cases substantial overlap with non-African groups. This is a
routine occurrence within human groups.

Africa has the highest phenotypic variation, just as it has
the highest geentic variation- accommodating a wide range of
features for its peoples without the need for any "race mix:
Relethford (2001) shows that ".. methods for estimating
regional diversity show sub-Saharan Africa to have the highest
levels of phenotypic variation, consistent with many genetic
studies." (
Relethford, John "Global Analysis of Regional
Differences in Craniometric Diversity and Population
Substructure". Human Biology - Volume 73, Number 5,
October 2001, pp. 629-636) Hanihara 2003 notes that
[significant] "..intraregional diversity are present in Subsaharan
Africans.." While ancient Egypt had gene flow in various eras,
hair variations easily fall under this pattern of built-in,
indigenous diversity, as well as the above noted cultural
practice of using wigs with hair from different places obtained
through trade.

Among Europeans for example, some people have curlier hair
and some have straighter hair than others. Various peoples of
East and West Africa also have narrow noses, which are
different from other peoples elsewhere in Africa, nevertheless
they still remain Africans. DNA studies also note greater
variation within selected populations that without. Since Africa
has the highest genetic diversity in the world, such routine
variation in characteristics such as hair need not indicate any
racial percentage or admixture, but simply part of the built-in
genetic diversity of the ancient peoples on the continent.
Indeed, the Semna study author notes that blondism, especially
in young children, is common in many dark-haired populations
(e.g., Australian, Melanesian), and is still found in some
Nubian villages. As regards hair color variation, reddish type
hair is associated with the presence of pheomelanin, which can
also be found in persons with dark brown or even black hair as
well. See "Rameses" below. Albinism is another source of red
hair.


Dubious attempts at 'racial analysis' using Nubian hair and
crania.
Assorted supporters of the stereotypical Aryan 'race'
model attempt to use hair to argue for a predominantly 'white'
Nubia. But as noted above, such attempts are dubious given
built-in African genetic diversity. Often 'racial' hair claims
attempt to link on with cranial studies purporting to match
ancient Nubians with Swedes, Frenchmen, etc. But such claims
are also dubious. In a detailed analysis of the Fordisc computer
program used to put forward such claims, Williams,
Armelagos, et al. (2005) found that the program created
ludicrous "matches" between the ancient Nubian crania and
peoples from Hungary, Japan, Easter Island and a host of others
in far-flung regions! Their conclusion was that the diversity of
human populations in the databank explained such wide
ranging matches. Such objective mainstream analyses debunk
obsolete and improbable claims of 'racial' migrations of alleged
Frenchman, Hungarians, or other whites into ancient Nubia, or
equally improbable racial 'percentages' supposedly quantifying
such claims. (Frank l'engle Williams, Robert L. Belcher, and
George J . Armelagos, "Forensic Misclassification of Ancient
Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human
Variation," Current Anthropology, volume 46 (2005), pages
340-346)

Alleged massive influx of Europeans and Middle Easterners
to give the ancient peoples hair variation did not happen.

Such variation was already in place as part of Africa' built in
genetic and phenotypic diversity.
As regards diameter, the average diameter of the Semna sample
was close to both the Northwest European and East African
samples. This again suggests a range of built-in African
indigenous variability, and calls into questions various
migration theories to the Nile Valley. One study for example
(Keita 2005) tested the model of C. Loring Brace (1993) as to
the notion of incoming European migrants replacing
indigenous peoples of the Nile Valley. Brace's work had also
suggested a relationship between northwest Europeans such as
Scandanavians and African peoples of the Horn. Data analysis
failed to support this model, instead clustering samples much
closer to African series than to Europeans. Keita concluded that
similarities between African data in his survey (skulls, etc) and
non-Africans was not due to gene flow, but a subset of built-in
African variability.

Ancient Egyptians cluster much closer to other Egyptians and
Nubians. A later study by Brace, (Brace 2005- The
questionable contribution..) groups ancient Egyptian
populations like the Naqada closer to Nubians and Somalis
than European, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern populations,
and places various Nubians samples closer to Tanzanian,
Dahomeian, and Congoid data points than to Europeans and
Middle easterners. The limb proportion studies of Zakrzewski
(2003) (Zakrzewski, S.R. (2003). "Variation in ancient
Egyptian stature and body proportions". American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 121 (3): 219-229.) showing the tropical
body plan of the ancient Egyptians also undercuts theories of
inflowing European or near Eastern colonists, or the 'native
Europid' model of Strouhal (1971).


The yellowish-red-hair of Rameses: proof of a Nordic
Egypt?


Red hair itself is within the range of African diversity or that of
dark-skinned peoples. Native black Australoids for example
routinely produce blonde hair:

Detailed microscopic analysis during the 1980s (Balout 1985)
identified some of the hair of Egyptian Pharoah Rameses II as
being a yellowish-red. Such a finding should not be surprising
given the wide range of physical variability in Africa, the most
genetically diverse region on earth, out of which flowed other
population groups. Indeed, blondism and various other hair
shades are not unknown in East Africa or Nubia, particularly in
children, nor are such hair color variants uncommon in
dark-haired or dark skinned populations like the Australians.
(Hrdy 1978) Given the range of genetic variability in Africa, a
red-haired Rameses is hardly unusual. Rameses' reign, in the
19th Dynasty, came over 1,500 years after the Egyptian state
had been established, and after the Hyskos interlude. Such
latecomers to Egypt, like the Hyskos, Assyrians, Greeks,
Romans, Arabs etc would add their own genetic strands to the
nation’s mix. Whatever the blend of genes that occurred with
Rameses, his hair offers little supposed "proof" of a "white" or
"Nordic" Egypt. If anything, X-rays of the royal mummies from
earlier Dynasties by mainstream scientists show that the
Egyptians pharaohs and other royals had varied 'Negroid'
leanings. See X-Rays of the Royal mummies here, or here.

Pheomelanin and Rameses- found in light and
dark-haired populations: The finding of Rameses “red” hair
also deserves further scrutiny. The analysis found evidence of
dyeing to make the hair yellowish-red, but some elements were
untouched by the dye. These elements of yellowish-red hair in
Balout’s study, were established on the basis of the presence of
pheomelanin, a red-brown polymeric pigment in the skin and
hair of humans. However, pheomelanin can also be found in
persons with dark brown or even black hair as well, which
gives it a reddish hue. Most natural melanins contain sulfur,
which is typically associated with pheomelanin. In scientific
tests of melanin, black hair contained as much as 5% sulfur,
3% lower than the 8.8% found in Irish red hair, but exceeding
the 2.3% found in Scandinavian blond hair. (Jolles, et al. 1996)
Thus the yellowish-red hair discovered on Rameses is well
within the range of human variation for dark haired people,
whatever the exact gene combination that led to the condition.

Rameses hair was not a typical European red, but
yellowish-red, within African variation. It was also not ultra
straight, further undermining claims of "Nordic" influence
.
Somalians and Ethiopians are SUB-SAHARANS and they
routinely produce straight-haired people without the need for
any "race mix" to explain why. The analysis on Rameses also
did not show classic "European" red hair but hair of a light red
to yellowish tinge. Black haired or dark-skinned populations
are quite capable of producing such yellowish-red color
variants on their own, as can be seen in today's east and
northeast Africa (see child's photo above). Nor is such color
variation unusual to Africa. Native dark-skinned populations in
Australia, routinely produce people with blond or reddish hair.
As noted above, ultra diverse Africa is the original source of
such variation.

The analysis also found the hair to be cymotrich or wavy, again
a characteristic quite within the range of overall African or Nile
valley physical and genetic diversity. A "pure" Nordic type of
straight hair was thus not established for Rameses. Hence the
notion of white Europeans or red-headed Caucasoids from
other areas flowing into ancient Egypt to add hair variation,
particularly the early centuries of the dynastic state is unlikely.
Such flows may have occurred most heavily in the Greek and
Roman era but say nothing about the thousands of years
preceding. The presence of pheomelanin conditions or other
genetic combinations also explains how the different hair used
in Egyptian wigs could vary in color, aside from environmental
oxidation, bleaching and dyeing.

Red hair is rare worldwide, and history shows little evidence
of Northern Europeans or "Nordics" sweeping into Egypt to
give the natives a bit of hair coloring or variation.

Most red hair is found in northern and western Europe,
especially in the British Isles, and even then it appears in minor
frequencies in Europe- some 4% of the population. It is
unlikely such populations had any major contact or influence in
the ancient Nile Valley. As noted above, red hair is
comparatively rare in the world’s populations and pheomelanin
conditions are found in dark-haired populations, and thus is
well within the range of variation from the Sahara, East Africa
and the Nile valley. “White Aryan” theories of Egypt are seen
in the works of HFK Gunther (1927), Archibald Sayce (1925)
and Raymond Dart (1939), and still find traction on a number
of 'Aryan', neo-nazi and "race" websites and blogs which
purport to show a "white Nordic Egypt" using Rameses' "red"
hair as an example. Today's scientific research however, has
debunked these dubious views, showing that red hair, while not
common world wide, is a well known variant within human
populations, even those with dark hair.

Straight or curly hair is also routine among sub-Saharans like
Somalians, who are firmly part of the East African populations.
As regards Somalians for example, Somali DNA
overwhelmingly links much more heavily with other Africans
including Kenyans & Ethiopians (85%), than with Europeans &
Middle Easterners. (15%) On Y-chromosome markers (E3b1),
Somalis (77%) and other African populations dwarf small
European (5.1%) or Middle Eastern (6.3%) frequencies. “The
data suggest that the male Somali population is a branch of the
East African population..” (Sanchez et al., High frequencies of
Y chromosome lineages.. in Somali males (2005)


 -

As one mainstream researcher notes about the dubious value
of "racial" hair analysis:


"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2

In numerous studies of mummies, alleged "red" hair turns
out to be affected by aging, chemical oxidation, dyeing and
other processes having nothing to do with red-headed visitors,
migrants, slaves or invaders. Red hair is rare worldwide,
occurring mostly in Northern EUrope and even then, only
within less that 9% of northern populations


"The current colour of the hair is brown with reddish
highlights, a common observation on many mummies, and
probably originated through post-mortem alteration
(Aufderheide, 2003; Wilson et al., 2001). Sun-exposure,
bacterial reaction, and embalming methods are some of the
factors that may affect the original hair colour. As a result, hair
that was originally black or brown exhibits reddish, orange or
even blond colour due to post mortem alterations. All human
hair, however, does not turn red over archaeological
time-scales (Wilson, 2001). Based on the histological analysis
of the unstained hair samples, the limited fungal influence, and
the macroscopic view, it can be assumed that the original hair
colour was brown. Similar cases of hair preservation have been
reported in studies of both mummified and non-mummified
human remains (Aufderheide, 2003; Brothwell and Dobney,
1986; Lubec et al., 1987; White, 1993; Wilson et al., 2002,
2007b)."


--C. Papageorgopoulou et al. 2008. Indications of embalming
in Roman Greece by physical, chemical and histological
analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.07.0

--------------------
Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began..

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the lioness,
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note zerohan uses this term "biodiversity proponents" all the time in a negative light. The sole reason he does this is because that's the title of another website:

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com.

So now becasue the webiste uses a particular word as it's title and he doesn't like the people that run this website the word itself becomes bad.

However if you ask him he will never define what "biodiversity" is.

And hypocritically he will promote "African diversity" all over the place.
Obviously when "diversity" is discussed here, it's primarily of the biological type.
Therefore when we speak of African diversity to be more precise we are speaking of African biological diversity.

Oh I forgot, if you combine the words "biological" and "diversity" into one word: "biodiversity" it magically transforms into a bad word.

bad word , bad bad word

Further examples of zarahan retardation is that malibudusul made a reasonable thread raising the issue, are the Northern Western European Matres and Matrones depicted in sculpture with afros?
As usual our friend zerohan then spams about Egyptian hair.
That has nothing to do with these Matres and Matrones figures from Europe. -any aopportunity to promote himself


lioness productions 2011

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Marc Washington
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.
.

Malibudusul,

It's true the Afro, the globe or ball of hair is the natural, unstyled "look" of many black people's hair. But, even going back thousands of years (as some of the pages below show) we've styled and worn our hair in countless ways:


 -
http://www.beforebc.de/all_europe/02-16-800-00-26/all_europe/02-16-800-00-26.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/StyledHair3000BC/03-10-09-00-15.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/StyledHair3000BC/03-10-38-10.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/StyledHair3000BC/03-10-82-10.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/Real.People/02-17-00-58.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/StyledHair3000BC/03-10-12-10.html

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http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankind/StyledHair3000BC/03-10-02-01.html


.
.

--------------------
The nature of homelife is the fate of the nation.

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 -  -
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bump

--------------------
mena

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malibudusul
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HAHAHA


Very OLD But Gold

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the lioness,
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 -


 -

 -

 -

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malibudusul
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Lioness Suck my Ass
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the lioness,
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Those are Black Roman women, why are you getting mad?


 -

_______^^^ look Marc has the same woman here on the bottom left marked "Spain" that I posted in the top of my post

a Roman woman from Empuries (originally a Greek colony in Spain)

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Mike111
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The Matres (Latin "mothers" and Matrones (Latin "matrons") were female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD. They are depicted on votive objects and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Celtic names, and half of which feature Germanic names), that were venerated in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and upper Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century AD.

Information about the religious practices surrounding the Matres is limited to the stones on which their depictions and inscriptions are found, of which over 1,100 exist. The Germanic matres have been connected with the later Germanic dísir, valkyries, and norns attested largely in 13th century sources.

Matres also appear on votive reliefs and inscriptions in other areas occupied by the Roman army, including southeast Gaul, as at Vertillum (illustration); in Spain and Portugal, where some twenty inscriptions are known, among them several ones which include local epithets like a dedication to the Matribus Gallaicis "to the Galician Mothers"; and also in the Romano-Celtic culture of Pannonia, in the form of similar reliefs and inscriptions to Nutrices Augustae, "the august Nurses" found in Roman sites of Ptuj, Lower Styria.


 -


Wiki claims that this is the same thing.
Look closely at what is in their laps, does it seem related? The answer is not remotely.


 -

.


Confirming truth presented this one as the same thing. Could a two thousand year-old soft stone carving look like this? It's chipped and broken, but the Albino faces and writing is crystal clear.

HELL NO!

It's an Albino fake.


 -


When are you people going to learn how to do this yourselves?

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the lioness,
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 -

The person in the center is not wearing a hat

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 -

 -


 -


 -

.
Lioness, you and the other Albinos claim that the depictions of hair below is a headdress. I believe you say that because you know Albino hair generally can't be styled like that: correctly meaning that the carvings depict Black women.

 -


lioness, please present your evidence or examples of how Albino women had headdresses like the above.

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the lioness,
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.


Are you suggesting that it might have been hair?
How do you know that?
 -
 -
 -

^^ it's too big to be hair, a few inces larger that the bid hair on the above busts and if it were hair the person in the center and on the right would have that type of hair.
Tell us about the Celtic tradition where people had huge afros

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Mike111
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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Are you suggesting that it might have been hair?

How do you know that?

it's too big to be hair, a few inces larger that the bid hair on the above busts and if it were hair the person in the center and on the right would have that type of hair. Tell us about the Celtic tradition where people had huge afros

^You stupid cunt, you know how I dislike it when you play dumb like this. I included the picture of Angela Davis just to stop you from going into such stupidness, and yet you brazenly do that very thing! What a fuching degenerate lying piece of sh1t you are.
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the lioness,
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike111:


 -


lioness, please present your evidence or examples of how Albino women had headdresses like the above. [/QB]

anybody who thinks these Matres headresses are afros is an idiot.
Black history, not
Where is there even an ancient African culture where the women have huge round afros ? I'm giving you the whole of Africa.
And any fool can see that there is long hair along the sides of the necks of the center figure and far right figure.

This is another Mike and friends scam to de-Africanize Black people and make them think they are Celts.
It's mentally ill clowning

BTW there are over 1000 of these Matres, Matrones mother figures
 -

Trying to tell black people these are afros is a deception and corruption of history

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the lioness,
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.

The Roman Angela Davis

 -


 -

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Mike111
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^I answer only because I know there is a Negro out there, stupid enough to think that makes sense.

Hair styles like that would breed parasites in hot/humid Africa. That is why Egyptians shaved their heads.

However, Black Celts from what is now Germany would have no such concerns.

Additionally, as a point of logic, what would be the point of a headdress of that size, in place of the actual hairstyle - idiot.

Finally - the flat, limp, hair of an Albino woman would never require a cover that big.

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the lioness,
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike111:

Black Celts from what is now Germany would have no such concerns.


stop trying to hustle that bullshyt
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Beautiful trinity of black Roman Afro hairstyle priestesses.

 -

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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
 -


 -

 -

 -

These look very much like an early stage of Afro puffs, "the for frontier".


 -

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Afro Hairstyle of Angels Gabriel and Michael on the Holy Crown of Hungary manufactured 1000 AD

 -

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 -
Fijian mountain warrior, Kai Colo. Carte de visite photograph, 1870's. The subject holds a rootstock club and wears a boar's tusk necklace.
Date 1870s

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quote:
Originally posted by zarahan- aka Enrique Cardova:
 -


Ancient Egyptian hair

Across the web assorted "biodiversity" proponents, wage a
'racial war' using hair studies of ancient Egyptians to prove a
"Caucasian Egypt". But in fact the hair of Africans is highly
variable, debunking their simplistic claims.


The hair of Africans is highly variable, ranging from tight curls
of South African Bantu, to the loose curls and straight hair of
peoples of East and NE Africa, all indigenously evolved over
millennia as part of Africa’s high genetic diversity. This
diversity undermines and ultimately dismisses simplistic
"racial" claims based on hair.


Inconsistencies of the skewed "true negro" model and
definitions of African hair



Dubious assertions, double standards and outmoded racial
hair claims:

Czech anthropologist Strouhal's 1971 study touched on hair,
and advanced the most extreme racial definitions, claiming
Nubians to be white Europids overrun by later waves of
Negroes, and that few Negroes appeared in Egypt until the New
Kingdom. Indeed, Strouhal went so far as to argue that
'Negroes' failed to survive long in Egypt, because they were
ill-adapted to its arid climate! Tell that to the Saharans,
Sudanese and Nubians! Such dubious claims have been
thoroughly debunked by modern scholarship, however they
continue in various guises by those who attempt to use "hair" to
assign race 'percents' and categories to the ancients. Attempts to
define racial categories based on the ancient hair rely heavily
on extreme definitions, with "Negroids" typically being defined
as narrowly as possible. Everything not meeting the extreme
"type" is then classified as something else, such as "Caucasian".

Kieta (1990, Studies of Crania from Northern Africa) notes that
while many scholars in the field have used an extreme "true
negro" definition for African peoples, few have attempted to
apply the same model in reverse and define a "true white."
Such racial double standards are typical of much scholarship on
the ancient Nile Valley peoples. A consistent approach for
example would define the straight hair in Strouhal's hair sample
as an exclusive Caucasian marker (10 out of 49 or
approximately 20%) and make the rest (wavy and curled)
hybrid or negro, at >80%. Assorted writers who support the
Aryan race percent model however, are careful to avoid such
consistency and typically only run the comparison one way.

QUOTE:
"Strouhal (1971) microscopically examined some hair which
had been preserved on a Badarian skull. The analysis was
interpreted as suggesting a stereotypical tropical
African-European hybrid (mulatto). However this hair is
grossly no different from that of Fulani, some Kanuri, or
Somali and does not require a gene flow explanation any more
than curly hair in Greece necessarily does. Extremely "wooly"
hair is not the only kind native to tropical Africa.."
(S. O. Y.
Keita. (1993). "Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian
Biological Relationships," History in Africa 20 (1993) 129-54)



Disturbing attempts to use hair to prove race theories:

Fletcher (2002) in Egyptian Hair and Wigs, gives an example
of what she calls "disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender"
involving 1800s European
researcher F. Petrie, who sometimes sought to use excavation
reports to prove his theories of Aegean settlers flowing into
Egypt. Such disturbing attempts continue today in the use of
hair for race category or percentage claims involving the
ancient peoples, such as the "racial" analysis seen on several
Internet blogs and websites, some thinly disguised fronts for
neo-nazi groups or sympathizers.

Hair study applied a stereotyped "true negro" model and used
late period samples of Egypt, after the coming of Greeks,
Hyskos, etc as "representative" excluding the previous 2500
years of ancient civilization. A study of the hair of Egyptian
mummies by Czech anthropologists Titlbachova and Titllbach
(1977) (reported in Strouhal 1977) using only late period
samples found a wide range of hair in mummies. Of the 14
samples, only 4 were from the south of Egypt, and none of the
14 samples were earlier than the 18th Dynasty. Essentially the
previous 2,000 years + of Egyptain civilization and peopling
are not represented. Only the narrowest definition is used to
identify 'true negro' types'. All other intermediate types were
deemed 'non-negroid.' If a similar procedure is used in reverse
and designates only straight hair as a marker of a European,
then only 4 out of 14 or 29% of the samples can be deemed
"Caucasoid." Below is a breakdown of the Czech data:

Sample# 5- 18th-21st dynasties- Deir el medina- curly
Sample# 8- 21st-25th dynasties- hair looks straight
Sample# 11- Late to Greek Period- hair partly wavy
Sample# 18- Late period Egypt- hair fine diameter
Sample# 19- Greek period- wavy hair
Sample# 29- 18-21st Dynasties- Deir El Medina- hair shape
unascertainable - south
Sample# 31- 18-21st dynasties- Deir El Median- wavy to curly
- south
Sample# 33- 21st-25th dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 34- 21st-25th dynasties- shape difficult to determine
Sample# 35- 21st-25th dynasties- wavy shape
Sample# 40- 21-25th Dynasties- hair curly,
Sample# 44- 21-25th Dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 45- 21-25th Dynasties- appears wavy
Sample# 46- Kharga Oasis- 4th-5th centuries AD


Using modern technology, the same Aryan Race models are
undercut with the data actually showing that Egyptians group
closer to Africans than vaunted white Nordics.


"Nordic hair measurements"

Neo-Nazis and sympathizers tout the work of German
researcher Pruner-Bey in the 1800s which derived racial
indexes of hair including Negroes, Egyptians and Germans.
Germanic hair is closer to that of the Egyptians they assert. But
is it as they claim?

(Data of Bruner-Bey 1864- 'On human hair as a race character')
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 69.94
- White Germans: 66.33
Neo-Nazi conclusion: White German Nordics are 'closer'
to Egyptians

Modern data using electron microscopes- Conti-Fuhrman &
Massa (1972). Massa and Masali (1980)

Compare to Pruner Bey's 1864 data:
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 60.02 (modern electron microscope data)
White
Germans: 66.33
___________________________________________________
___________________________
Conclusion using modern microscope data: Negroes much
‘closer’ to Egyptians than Nordics

___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Using hair for race identification as older research does can be
shaky, but even when used, it undercuts ‘Aryan” clams as
shown above.

Fletcher 2002 decries “"disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender..”
Other credible scientists note:

"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2



Environmental factors can influence hair color, and the
Egyptians routinely placed hair from different sources in
mummy wrappings, making claims of "Nordic-haired" or
"white" Egyptians dubious.


Mummification practices and dyeing of hair. Hair
studies of mummies note that color is often influenced by
environmental factors at burial sites. Brothwell and Spearman
(1963) point out that reddish-brown ancient color hair is
usually the result of partial oxidation of the melanin pigment.
Other causes of hair color "blonding" involve bleaching, caused
by the alkaline in the mummification process. Color also varies
due to the Egyptian practice of dyeing hair with henna. Other
samples show individuals lightening the hair using vegetable
colorants. Thus variations in hair color among mummies do not
necessarily suggest the presence of blond or red-haired
Europeans or Near Easterners flitting about Egypt before being
mummified, but the influence of environmental factors.

Egyptian practice of putting locks of hair in mummy
wrappings.
Racial analysis is also made problematic by the
Egyptian practice of burying hair, in many "votive or funerary
deposits buried separately from the body, a practice found from
Predynastic to Roman times despite its frequent omission from
excavation reports." (Fletcher 2002) In examining hair samples
Fletcher (2004) notes that care is needed to determine what is
natural scalp hair, versus hair from a wig, versus hair
extensions to natural locks. Tracking the exact source of hair is
also critical since the Egyptians were known to have placed
locks of hair from different sources among mummy wrappings.
(The Search for Nefertiti, By Joann Fletcher, HarperCollins,
2004, p. 93-94, 96)


Egyptians shaved much of their natural hair off and used
wigs extensively as covering, obtaining much of the hair for
wigs through trade.
Discoveries" of "Aryan" or 'Nordic"
hair are thus hardly 'proof' of incoming Caucasoids, but may
be simply hair purchased from some source and made into a
wig. This is much less dramatic than the exciting picture of
inflowing 'Aryan' hordes.


The ancient Egyptians shaved off much of their own natural
hair as a matter of personal hygiene and custom, and wore wigs
in public. According to the Encyclopedia of body
adornment

(Margo DeMello, 2007, Greenwood Publishing Group, p.
101), "Boys and girls until puberty wore their hair shaved
except for a side locl left on the side of their head. Many
adults- both men and women- also shaved their hair as a way of
coping with heat and lice. However, adults did not go about
bald, and instead wore wigs in public and in private.. Wigs
were initially worn by the elites, but later worn by women of all
classes.."


The widespread use of wigs in ancient Egypt thus complicates
and contradicts attempts at 'racial' analysis. Fletcher (2002)
shows that many Egyptian wigs have been found with what is
defined as straighter 'cynotrichous' hair. This however is hardly
a marker of massive European or Near Eastern presence or
admixture. Fletcher notes that the Egyptians often eschewed
their own personal hair, shaving carefully and using wigs
widely. The hair for these wigs was often obtained through
trade. Indeed -quote - "hair itself being a valuable commodity ranked
alongside gold and incense in account lists from the town of
Kahun."



Egyptian trading links with other regions is well known, and a
commodity like straighter 'cynotrichous' hair could have been
easily obtained via the Sahara, Levant, the Maghreb,
Mediterranean contacts, or even the hair of Asiatic war captives
or casualties from Egypt's numerous conflicts. There is little
need to postulate mass influxes of European admixtures or
populations to account for hair types in wigs. The limb
proportion studies of the ancient Egyptians showing them to be
much more related to tropical types than to Europids, is further
demonstration of the fallacy of using hair as 'proof' of a 'Aryan'
or predominantly European admixed Egypt.



Nubian wigs and wigs in Egypt


Such exchanges or use of hair appear elsewhere in the Nile
valley. Tomb finds show Nubians themselves wearing wigs of
straight hair. But one Nubian from the Royal valley, of the 12th
century, named Maherpra, was found to be wearing a wig
himself, made up of tightly curled 'negroid' hair, on top of his
natural covering (Fletcher 2002). The so-called "Nubian wig"
also appears in Egyptian art relief's depicting daily life, a
stylistic arrangement thought to imitate those found in southern
Egypt or Nubia. Such wigs appear to have been popular with
both Egyptians and Nubians. Fletcher 2004 notes that the
famous queen Nefertiti made frequent use of the Nubian wig:
"Nefertiti and her daughter seem to have set a trend for wearing
the Nubian wig.. a coiffure first worn by Nubian mercenaries
and clearly associated with the military." A detail of a wall
scene in Theban tomb TT.55 shows the queen wearing the
Nubian wig.
Infantrymen from the Nubia. Note both bow and battle-axe
carried into combat.

Nubian infantrymen shown with distinctive Nubian wig. From
Deir el-Bahri, Temple of Hatshepsut New Kingdom,
Eighteenth Dynasty, 1480 B.C.


Hair studies of Nubians show built-in African genetic
variability


Hair studies of Nubians have also been undertaken. One study
at Semna, in Nubia (Daniel Hrdy 1978- Analysis of Hair
Samples of Mummies from Semna South, American Journal of
Physical Anthropology, (1978) 49: 277-262), found curling
patterns intermediate between Northwest European and African
samples. The X-group, especially males, showed more African
elements than the Meroitic in the curling variables. Crimping
and curvature data patterned in a northwest Europe direction.
These data plots however do not necessarily indicate race
admixture or percentages, or the presence of European migrants
or colonists (see Keita 2005 below), but rather a data pattern of
variation in how hair curls, and native African diversity which
cases substantial overlap with non-African groups. This is a
routine occurrence within human groups.

Africa has the highest phenotypic variation, just as it has
the highest geentic variation- accommodating a wide range of
features for its peoples without the need for any "race mix:
Relethford (2001) shows that ".. methods for estimating
regional diversity show sub-Saharan Africa to have the highest
levels of phenotypic variation, consistent with many genetic
studies." (
Relethford, John "Global Analysis of Regional
Differences in Craniometric Diversity and Population
Substructure". Human Biology - Volume 73, Number 5,
October 2001, pp. 629-636) Hanihara 2003 notes that
[significant] "..intraregional diversity are present in Subsaharan
Africans.." While ancient Egypt had gene flow in various eras,
hair variations easily fall under this pattern of built-in,
indigenous diversity, as well as the above noted cultural
practice of using wigs with hair from different places obtained
through trade.

Among Europeans for example, some people have curlier hair
and some have straighter hair than others. Various peoples of
East and West Africa also have narrow noses, which are
different from other peoples elsewhere in Africa, nevertheless
they still remain Africans. DNA studies also note greater
variation within selected populations that without. Since Africa
has the highest genetic diversity in the world, such routine
variation in characteristics such as hair need not indicate any
racial percentage or admixture, but simply part of the built-in
genetic diversity of the ancient peoples on the continent.
Indeed, the Semna study author notes that blondism, especially
in young children, is common in many dark-haired populations
(e.g., Australian, Melanesian), and is still found in some
Nubian villages. As regards hair color variation, reddish type
hair is associated with the presence of pheomelanin, which can
also be found in persons with dark brown or even black hair as
well. See "Rameses" below. Albinism is another source of red
hair.


Dubious attempts at 'racial analysis' using Nubian hair and
crania.
Assorted supporters of the stereotypical Aryan 'race'
model attempt to use hair to argue for a predominantly 'white'
Nubia. But as noted above, such attempts are dubious given
built-in African genetic diversity. Often 'racial' hair claims
attempt to link on with cranial studies purporting to match
ancient Nubians with Swedes, Frenchmen, etc. But such claims
are also dubious. In a detailed analysis of the Fordisc computer
program used to put forward such claims, Williams,
Armelagos, et al. (2005) found that the program created
ludicrous "matches" between the ancient Nubian crania and
peoples from Hungary, Japan, Easter Island and a host of others
in far-flung regions! Their conclusion was that the diversity of
human populations in the databank explained such wide
ranging matches. Such objective mainstream analyses debunk
obsolete and improbable claims of 'racial' migrations of alleged
Frenchman, Hungarians, or other whites into ancient Nubia, or
equally improbable racial 'percentages' supposedly quantifying
such claims. (Frank l'engle Williams, Robert L. Belcher, and
George J . Armelagos, "Forensic Misclassification of Ancient
Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human
Variation," Current Anthropology, volume 46 (2005), pages
340-346)

Alleged massive influx of Europeans and Middle Easterners
to give the ancient peoples hair variation did not happen.

Such variation was already in place as part of Africa' built in
genetic and phenotypic diversity.
As regards diameter, the average diameter of the Semna sample
was close to both the Northwest European and East African
samples. This again suggests a range of built-in African
indigenous variability, and calls into questions various
migration theories to the Nile Valley. One study for example
(Keita 2005) tested the model of C. Loring Brace (1993) as to
the notion of incoming European migrants replacing
indigenous peoples of the Nile Valley. Brace's work had also
suggested a relationship between northwest Europeans such as
Scandanavians and African peoples of the Horn. Data analysis
failed to support this model, instead clustering samples much
closer to African series than to Europeans. Keita concluded that
similarities between African data in his survey (skulls, etc) and
non-Africans was not due to gene flow, but a subset of built-in
African variability.

Ancient Egyptians cluster much closer to other Egyptians and
Nubians. A later study by Brace, (Brace 2005- The
questionable contribution..) groups ancient Egyptian
populations like the Naqada closer to Nubians and Somalis
than European, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern populations,
and places various Nubians samples closer to Tanzanian,
Dahomeian, and Congoid data points than to Europeans and
Middle easterners. The limb proportion studies of Zakrzewski
(2003) (Zakrzewski, S.R. (2003). "Variation in ancient
Egyptian stature and body proportions". American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 121 (3): 219-229.) showing the tropical
body plan of the ancient Egyptians also undercuts theories of
inflowing European or near Eastern colonists, or the 'native
Europid' model of Strouhal (1971).


The yellowish-red-hair of Rameses: proof of a Nordic
Egypt?


Red hair itself is within the range of African diversity or that of
dark-skinned peoples. Native black Australoids for example
routinely produce blonde hair:

Detailed microscopic analysis during the 1980s (Balout 1985)
identified some of the hair of Egyptian Pharoah Rameses II as
being a yellowish-red. Such a finding should not be surprising
given the wide range of physical variability in Africa, the most
genetically diverse region on earth, out of which flowed other
population groups. Indeed, blondism and various other hair
shades are not unknown in East Africa or Nubia, particularly in
children, nor are such hair color variants uncommon in
dark-haired or dark skinned populations like the Australians.
(Hrdy 1978) Given the range of genetic variability in Africa, a
red-haired Rameses is hardly unusual. Rameses' reign, in the
19th Dynasty, came over 1,500 years after the Egyptian state
had been established, and after the Hyskos interlude. Such
latecomers to Egypt, like the Hyskos, Assyrians, Greeks,
Romans, Arabs etc would add their own genetic strands to the
nation’s mix. Whatever the blend of genes that occurred with
Rameses, his hair offers little supposed "proof" of a "white" or
"Nordic" Egypt. If anything, X-rays of the royal mummies from
earlier Dynasties by mainstream scientists show that the
Egyptians pharaohs and other royals had varied 'Negroid'
leanings. See X-Rays of the Royal mummies here, or here.

Pheomelanin and Rameses- found in light and
dark-haired populations: The finding of Rameses “red” hair
also deserves further scrutiny. The analysis found evidence of
dyeing to make the hair yellowish-red, but some elements were
untouched by the dye. These elements of yellowish-red hair in
Balout’s study, were established on the basis of the presence of
pheomelanin, a red-brown polymeric pigment in the skin and
hair of humans. However, pheomelanin can also be found in
persons with dark brown or even black hair as well, which
gives it a reddish hue. Most natural melanins contain sulfur,
which is typically associated with pheomelanin. In scientific
tests of melanin, black hair contained as much as 5% sulfur,
3% lower than the 8.8% found in Irish red hair, but exceeding
the 2.3% found in Scandinavian blond hair. (Jolles, et al. 1996)
Thus the yellowish-red hair discovered on Rameses is well
within the range of human variation for dark haired people,
whatever the exact gene combination that led to the condition.

Rameses hair was not a typical European red, but
yellowish-red, within African variation. It was also not ultra
straight, further undermining claims of "Nordic" influence
.
Somalians and Ethiopians are SUB-SAHARANS and they
routinely produce straight-haired people without the need for
any "race mix" to explain why. The analysis on Rameses also
did not show classic "European" red hair but hair of a light red
to yellowish tinge. Black haired or dark-skinned populations
are quite capable of producing such yellowish-red color
variants on their own, as can be seen in today's east and
northeast Africa (see child's photo above). Nor is such color
variation unusual to Africa. Native dark-skinned populations in
Australia, routinely produce people with blond or reddish hair.
As noted above, ultra diverse Africa is the original source of
such variation.

The analysis also found the hair to be cymotrich or wavy, again
a characteristic quite within the range of overall African or Nile
valley physical and genetic diversity. A "pure" Nordic type of
straight hair was thus not established for Rameses. Hence the
notion of white Europeans or red-headed Caucasoids from
other areas flowing into ancient Egypt to add hair variation,
particularly the early centuries of the dynastic state is unlikely.
Such flows may have occurred most heavily in the Greek and
Roman era but say nothing about the thousands of years
preceding. The presence of pheomelanin conditions or other
genetic combinations also explains how the different hair used
in Egyptian wigs could vary in color, aside from environmental
oxidation, bleaching and dyeing.

Red hair is rare worldwide, and history shows little evidence
of Northern Europeans or "Nordics" sweeping into Egypt to
give the natives a bit of hair coloring or variation.

Most red hair is found in northern and western Europe,
especially in the British Isles, and even then it appears in minor
frequencies in Europe- some 4% of the population. It is
unlikely such populations had any major contact or influence in
the ancient Nile Valley. As noted above, red hair is
comparatively rare in the world’s populations and pheomelanin
conditions are found in dark-haired populations, and thus is
well within the range of variation from the Sahara, East Africa
and the Nile valley. “White Aryan” theories of Egypt are seen
in the works of HFK Gunther (1927), Archibald Sayce (1925)
and Raymond Dart (1939), and still find traction on a number
of 'Aryan', neo-nazi and "race" websites and blogs which
purport to show a "white Nordic Egypt" using Rameses' "red"
hair as an example. Today's scientific research however, has
debunked these dubious views, showing that red hair, while not
common world wide, is a well known variant within human
populations, even those with dark hair.

Straight or curly hair is also routine among sub-Saharans like
Somalians, who are firmly part of the East African populations.
As regards Somalians for example, Somali DNA
overwhelmingly links much more heavily with other Africans
including Kenyans & Ethiopians (85%), than with Europeans &
Middle Easterners. (15%) On Y-chromosome markers (E3b1),
Somalis (77%) and other African populations dwarf small
European (5.1%) or Middle Eastern (6.3%) frequencies. “The
data suggest that the male Somali population is a branch of the
East African population..” (Sanchez et al., High frequencies of
Y chromosome lineages.. in Somali males (2005)


 -

As one mainstream researcher notes about the dubious value
of "racial" hair analysis:


"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2

In numerous studies of mummies, alleged "red" hair turns
out to be affected by aging, chemical oxidation, dyeing and
other processes having nothing to do with red-headed visitors,
migrants, slaves or invaders. Red hair is rare worldwide,
occurring mostly in Northern EUrope and even then, only
within less that 9% of northern populations


"The current colour of the hair is brown with reddish
highlights, a common observation on many mummies, and
probably originated through post-mortem alteration
(Aufderheide, 2003; Wilson et al., 2001). Sun-exposure,
bacterial reaction, and embalming methods are some of the
factors that may affect the original hair colour. As a result, hair
that was originally black or brown exhibits reddish, orange or
even blond colour due to post mortem alterations. All human
hair, however, does not turn red over archaeological
time-scales (Wilson, 2001). Based on the histological analysis
of the unstained hair samples, the limited fungal influence, and
the macroscopic view, it can be assumed that the original hair
colour was brown. Similar cases of hair preservation have been
reported in studies of both mummified and non-mummified
human remains (Aufderheide, 2003; Brothwell and Dobney,
1986; Lubec et al., 1987; White, 1993; Wilson et al., 2002,
2007b)."


--C. Papageorgopoulou et al. 2008. Indications of embalming
in Roman Greece by physical, chemical and histological
analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.07.0

Nile Valley African Hair types:

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771211119/in/photostream/

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771195859/in/photostream/

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771227715/in/photostream/

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Doug M
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More Nile Valley and other African Hair types:
 -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NSRW_Africa_Hadendoa.png#mediaviewer/File:LA2-NSRW-1-0039.jpg

 -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4774346827/

 -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4773777661/

 -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4774040568/

 -

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Doug M
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quote:
Originally posted by Doug M:
quote:
Originally posted by zarahan- aka Enrique Cardova:
 -


Ancient Egyptian hair

Across the web assorted "biodiversity" proponents, wage a
'racial war' using hair studies of ancient Egyptians to prove a
"Caucasian Egypt". But in fact the hair of Africans is highly
variable, debunking their simplistic claims.


The hair of Africans is highly variable, ranging from tight curls
of South African Bantu, to the loose curls and straight hair of
peoples of East and NE Africa, all indigenously evolved over
millennia as part of Africa’s high genetic diversity. This
diversity undermines and ultimately dismisses simplistic
"racial" claims based on hair.


Inconsistencies of the skewed "true negro" model and
definitions of African hair



Dubious assertions, double standards and outmoded racial
hair claims:

Czech anthropologist Strouhal's 1971 study touched on hair,
and advanced the most extreme racial definitions, claiming
Nubians to be white Europids overrun by later waves of
Negroes, and that few Negroes appeared in Egypt until the New
Kingdom. Indeed, Strouhal went so far as to argue that
'Negroes' failed to survive long in Egypt, because they were
ill-adapted to its arid climate! Tell that to the Saharans,
Sudanese and Nubians! Such dubious claims have been
thoroughly debunked by modern scholarship, however they
continue in various guises by those who attempt to use "hair" to
assign race 'percents' and categories to the ancients. Attempts to
define racial categories based on the ancient hair rely heavily
on extreme definitions, with "Negroids" typically being defined
as narrowly as possible. Everything not meeting the extreme
"type" is then classified as something else, such as "Caucasian".

Kieta (1990, Studies of Crania from Northern Africa) notes that
while many scholars in the field have used an extreme "true
negro" definition for African peoples, few have attempted to
apply the same model in reverse and define a "true white."
Such racial double standards are typical of much scholarship on
the ancient Nile Valley peoples. A consistent approach for
example would define the straight hair in Strouhal's hair sample
as an exclusive Caucasian marker (10 out of 49 or
approximately 20%) and make the rest (wavy and curled)
hybrid or negro, at >80%. Assorted writers who support the
Aryan race percent model however, are careful to avoid such
consistency and typically only run the comparison one way.

QUOTE:
"Strouhal (1971) microscopically examined some hair which
had been preserved on a Badarian skull. The analysis was
interpreted as suggesting a stereotypical tropical
African-European hybrid (mulatto). However this hair is
grossly no different from that of Fulani, some Kanuri, or
Somali and does not require a gene flow explanation any more
than curly hair in Greece necessarily does. Extremely "wooly"
hair is not the only kind native to tropical Africa.."
(S. O. Y.
Keita. (1993). "Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian
Biological Relationships," History in Africa 20 (1993) 129-54)



Disturbing attempts to use hair to prove race theories:

Fletcher (2002) in Egyptian Hair and Wigs, gives an example
of what she calls "disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender"
involving 1800s European
researcher F. Petrie, who sometimes sought to use excavation
reports to prove his theories of Aegean settlers flowing into
Egypt. Such disturbing attempts continue today in the use of
hair for race category or percentage claims involving the
ancient peoples, such as the "racial" analysis seen on several
Internet blogs and websites, some thinly disguised fronts for
neo-nazi groups or sympathizers.

Hair study applied a stereotyped "true negro" model and used
late period samples of Egypt, after the coming of Greeks,
Hyskos, etc as "representative" excluding the previous 2500
years of ancient civilization. A study of the hair of Egyptian
mummies by Czech anthropologists Titlbachova and Titllbach
(1977) (reported in Strouhal 1977) using only late period
samples found a wide range of hair in mummies. Of the 14
samples, only 4 were from the south of Egypt, and none of the
14 samples were earlier than the 18th Dynasty. Essentially the
previous 2,000 years + of Egyptain civilization and peopling
are not represented. Only the narrowest definition is used to
identify 'true negro' types'. All other intermediate types were
deemed 'non-negroid.' If a similar procedure is used in reverse
and designates only straight hair as a marker of a European,
then only 4 out of 14 or 29% of the samples can be deemed
"Caucasoid." Below is a breakdown of the Czech data:

Sample# 5- 18th-21st dynasties- Deir el medina- curly
Sample# 8- 21st-25th dynasties- hair looks straight
Sample# 11- Late to Greek Period- hair partly wavy
Sample# 18- Late period Egypt- hair fine diameter
Sample# 19- Greek period- wavy hair
Sample# 29- 18-21st Dynasties- Deir El Medina- hair shape
unascertainable - south
Sample# 31- 18-21st dynasties- Deir El Median- wavy to curly
- south
Sample# 33- 21st-25th dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 34- 21st-25th dynasties- shape difficult to determine
Sample# 35- 21st-25th dynasties- wavy shape
Sample# 40- 21-25th Dynasties- hair curly,
Sample# 44- 21-25th Dynasties- appears straight
Sample# 45- 21-25th Dynasties- appears wavy
Sample# 46- Kharga Oasis- 4th-5th centuries AD


Using modern technology, the same Aryan Race models are
undercut with the data actually showing that Egyptians group
closer to Africans than vaunted white Nordics.


"Nordic hair measurements"

Neo-Nazis and sympathizers tout the work of German
researcher Pruner-Bey in the 1800s which derived racial
indexes of hair including Negroes, Egyptians and Germans.
Germanic hair is closer to that of the Egyptians they assert. But
is it as they claim?

(Data of Bruner-Bey 1864- 'On human hair as a race character')
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 69.94
- White Germans: 66.33
Neo-Nazi conclusion: White German Nordics are 'closer'
to Egyptians

Modern data using electron microscopes- Conti-Fuhrman &
Massa (1972). Massa and Masali (1980)

Compare to Pruner Bey's 1864 data:
- Negroid index: 57.40
- Egyptian index: 60.02 (modern electron microscope data)
White
Germans: 66.33
___________________________________________________
___________________________
Conclusion using modern microscope data: Negroes much
‘closer’ to Egyptians than Nordics

___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Using hair for race identification as older research does can be
shaky, but even when used, it undercuts ‘Aryan” clams as
shown above.

Fletcher 2002 decries “"disturbing attempts to use hair to prove
assumptions of race and gender..”
Other credible scientists note:

"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2



Environmental factors can influence hair color, and the
Egyptians routinely placed hair from different sources in
mummy wrappings, making claims of "Nordic-haired" or
"white" Egyptians dubious.


Mummification practices and dyeing of hair. Hair
studies of mummies note that color is often influenced by
environmental factors at burial sites. Brothwell and Spearman
(1963) point out that reddish-brown ancient color hair is
usually the result of partial oxidation of the melanin pigment.
Other causes of hair color "blonding" involve bleaching, caused
by the alkaline in the mummification process. Color also varies
due to the Egyptian practice of dyeing hair with henna. Other
samples show individuals lightening the hair using vegetable
colorants. Thus variations in hair color among mummies do not
necessarily suggest the presence of blond or red-haired
Europeans or Near Easterners flitting about Egypt before being
mummified, but the influence of environmental factors.

Egyptian practice of putting locks of hair in mummy
wrappings.
Racial analysis is also made problematic by the
Egyptian practice of burying hair, in many "votive or funerary
deposits buried separately from the body, a practice found from
Predynastic to Roman times despite its frequent omission from
excavation reports." (Fletcher 2002) In examining hair samples
Fletcher (2004) notes that care is needed to determine what is
natural scalp hair, versus hair from a wig, versus hair
extensions to natural locks. Tracking the exact source of hair is
also critical since the Egyptians were known to have placed
locks of hair from different sources among mummy wrappings.
(The Search for Nefertiti, By Joann Fletcher, HarperCollins,
2004, p. 93-94, 96)


Egyptians shaved much of their natural hair off and used
wigs extensively as covering, obtaining much of the hair for
wigs through trade.
Discoveries" of "Aryan" or 'Nordic"
hair are thus hardly 'proof' of incoming Caucasoids, but may
be simply hair purchased from some source and made into a
wig. This is much less dramatic than the exciting picture of
inflowing 'Aryan' hordes.


The ancient Egyptians shaved off much of their own natural
hair as a matter of personal hygiene and custom, and wore wigs
in public. According to the Encyclopedia of body
adornment

(Margo DeMello, 2007, Greenwood Publishing Group, p.
101), "Boys and girls until puberty wore their hair shaved
except for a side locl left on the side of their head. Many
adults- both men and women- also shaved their hair as a way of
coping with heat and lice. However, adults did not go about
bald, and instead wore wigs in public and in private.. Wigs
were initially worn by the elites, but later worn by women of all
classes.."


The widespread use of wigs in ancient Egypt thus complicates
and contradicts attempts at 'racial' analysis. Fletcher (2002)
shows that many Egyptian wigs have been found with what is
defined as straighter 'cynotrichous' hair. This however is hardly
a marker of massive European or Near Eastern presence or
admixture. Fletcher notes that the Egyptians often eschewed
their own personal hair, shaving carefully and using wigs
widely. The hair for these wigs was often obtained through
trade. Indeed -quote - "hair itself being a valuable commodity ranked
alongside gold and incense in account lists from the town of
Kahun."



Egyptian trading links with other regions is well known, and a
commodity like straighter 'cynotrichous' hair could have been
easily obtained via the Sahara, Levant, the Maghreb,
Mediterranean contacts, or even the hair of Asiatic war captives
or casualties from Egypt's numerous conflicts. There is little
need to postulate mass influxes of European admixtures or
populations to account for hair types in wigs. The limb
proportion studies of the ancient Egyptians showing them to be
much more related to tropical types than to Europids, is further
demonstration of the fallacy of using hair as 'proof' of a 'Aryan'
or predominantly European admixed Egypt.



Nubian wigs and wigs in Egypt


Such exchanges or use of hair appear elsewhere in the Nile
valley. Tomb finds show Nubians themselves wearing wigs of
straight hair. But one Nubian from the Royal valley, of the 12th
century, named Maherpra, was found to be wearing a wig
himself, made up of tightly curled 'negroid' hair, on top of his
natural covering (Fletcher 2002). The so-called "Nubian wig"
also appears in Egyptian art relief's depicting daily life, a
stylistic arrangement thought to imitate those found in southern
Egypt or Nubia. Such wigs appear to have been popular with
both Egyptians and Nubians. Fletcher 2004 notes that the
famous queen Nefertiti made frequent use of the Nubian wig:
"Nefertiti and her daughter seem to have set a trend for wearing
the Nubian wig.. a coiffure first worn by Nubian mercenaries
and clearly associated with the military." A detail of a wall
scene in Theban tomb TT.55 shows the queen wearing the
Nubian wig.
Infantrymen from the Nubia. Note both bow and battle-axe
carried into combat.

Nubian infantrymen shown with distinctive Nubian wig. From
Deir el-Bahri, Temple of Hatshepsut New Kingdom,
Eighteenth Dynasty, 1480 B.C.


Hair studies of Nubians show built-in African genetic
variability


Hair studies of Nubians have also been undertaken. One study
at Semna, in Nubia (Daniel Hrdy 1978- Analysis of Hair
Samples of Mummies from Semna South, American Journal of
Physical Anthropology, (1978) 49: 277-262), found curling
patterns intermediate between Northwest European and African
samples. The X-group, especially males, showed more African
elements than the Meroitic in the curling variables. Crimping
and curvature data patterned in a northwest Europe direction.
These data plots however do not necessarily indicate race
admixture or percentages, or the presence of European migrants
or colonists (see Keita 2005 below), but rather a data pattern of
variation in how hair curls, and native African diversity which
cases substantial overlap with non-African groups. This is a
routine occurrence within human groups.

Africa has the highest phenotypic variation, just as it has
the highest geentic variation- accommodating a wide range of
features for its peoples without the need for any "race mix:
Relethford (2001) shows that ".. methods for estimating
regional diversity show sub-Saharan Africa to have the highest
levels of phenotypic variation, consistent with many genetic
studies." (
Relethford, John "Global Analysis of Regional
Differences in Craniometric Diversity and Population
Substructure". Human Biology - Volume 73, Number 5,
October 2001, pp. 629-636) Hanihara 2003 notes that
[significant] "..intraregional diversity are present in Subsaharan
Africans.." While ancient Egypt had gene flow in various eras,
hair variations easily fall under this pattern of built-in,
indigenous diversity, as well as the above noted cultural
practice of using wigs with hair from different places obtained
through trade.

Among Europeans for example, some people have curlier hair
and some have straighter hair than others. Various peoples of
East and West Africa also have narrow noses, which are
different from other peoples elsewhere in Africa, nevertheless
they still remain Africans. DNA studies also note greater
variation within selected populations that without. Since Africa
has the highest genetic diversity in the world, such routine
variation in characteristics such as hair need not indicate any
racial percentage or admixture, but simply part of the built-in
genetic diversity of the ancient peoples on the continent.
Indeed, the Semna study author notes that blondism, especially
in young children, is common in many dark-haired populations
(e.g., Australian, Melanesian), and is still found in some
Nubian villages. As regards hair color variation, reddish type
hair is associated with the presence of pheomelanin, which can
also be found in persons with dark brown or even black hair as
well. See "Rameses" below. Albinism is another source of red
hair.


Dubious attempts at 'racial analysis' using Nubian hair and
crania.
Assorted supporters of the stereotypical Aryan 'race'
model attempt to use hair to argue for a predominantly 'white'
Nubia. But as noted above, such attempts are dubious given
built-in African genetic diversity. Often 'racial' hair claims
attempt to link on with cranial studies purporting to match
ancient Nubians with Swedes, Frenchmen, etc. But such claims
are also dubious. In a detailed analysis of the Fordisc computer
program used to put forward such claims, Williams,
Armelagos, et al. (2005) found that the program created
ludicrous "matches" between the ancient Nubian crania and
peoples from Hungary, Japan, Easter Island and a host of others
in far-flung regions! Their conclusion was that the diversity of
human populations in the databank explained such wide
ranging matches. Such objective mainstream analyses debunk
obsolete and improbable claims of 'racial' migrations of alleged
Frenchman, Hungarians, or other whites into ancient Nubia, or
equally improbable racial 'percentages' supposedly quantifying
such claims. (Frank l'engle Williams, Robert L. Belcher, and
George J . Armelagos, "Forensic Misclassification of Ancient
Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human
Variation," Current Anthropology, volume 46 (2005), pages
340-346)

Alleged massive influx of Europeans and Middle Easterners
to give the ancient peoples hair variation did not happen.

Such variation was already in place as part of Africa' built in
genetic and phenotypic diversity.
As regards diameter, the average diameter of the Semna sample
was close to both the Northwest European and East African
samples. This again suggests a range of built-in African
indigenous variability, and calls into questions various
migration theories to the Nile Valley. One study for example
(Keita 2005) tested the model of C. Loring Brace (1993) as to
the notion of incoming European migrants replacing
indigenous peoples of the Nile Valley. Brace's work had also
suggested a relationship between northwest Europeans such as
Scandanavians and African peoples of the Horn. Data analysis
failed to support this model, instead clustering samples much
closer to African series than to Europeans. Keita concluded that
similarities between African data in his survey (skulls, etc) and
non-Africans was not due to gene flow, but a subset of built-in
African variability.

Ancient Egyptians cluster much closer to other Egyptians and
Nubians. A later study by Brace, (Brace 2005- The
questionable contribution..) groups ancient Egyptian
populations like the Naqada closer to Nubians and Somalis
than European, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern populations,
and places various Nubians samples closer to Tanzanian,
Dahomeian, and Congoid data points than to Europeans and
Middle easterners. The limb proportion studies of Zakrzewski
(2003) (Zakrzewski, S.R. (2003). "Variation in ancient
Egyptian stature and body proportions". American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 121 (3): 219-229.) showing the tropical
body plan of the ancient Egyptians also undercuts theories of
inflowing European or near Eastern colonists, or the 'native
Europid' model of Strouhal (1971).


The yellowish-red-hair of Rameses: proof of a Nordic
Egypt?


Red hair itself is within the range of African diversity or that of
dark-skinned peoples. Native black Australoids for example
routinely produce blonde hair:

Detailed microscopic analysis during the 1980s (Balout 1985)
identified some of the hair of Egyptian Pharoah Rameses II as
being a yellowish-red. Such a finding should not be surprising
given the wide range of physical variability in Africa, the most
genetically diverse region on earth, out of which flowed other
population groups. Indeed, blondism and various other hair
shades are not unknown in East Africa or Nubia, particularly in
children, nor are such hair color variants uncommon in
dark-haired or dark skinned populations like the Australians.
(Hrdy 1978) Given the range of genetic variability in Africa, a
red-haired Rameses is hardly unusual. Rameses' reign, in the
19th Dynasty, came over 1,500 years after the Egyptian state
had been established, and after the Hyskos interlude. Such
latecomers to Egypt, like the Hyskos, Assyrians, Greeks,
Romans, Arabs etc would add their own genetic strands to the
nation’s mix. Whatever the blend of genes that occurred with
Rameses, his hair offers little supposed "proof" of a "white" or
"Nordic" Egypt. If anything, X-rays of the royal mummies from
earlier Dynasties by mainstream scientists show that the
Egyptians pharaohs and other royals had varied 'Negroid'
leanings. See X-Rays of the Royal mummies here, or here.

Pheomelanin and Rameses- found in light and
dark-haired populations: The finding of Rameses “red” hair
also deserves further scrutiny. The analysis found evidence of
dyeing to make the hair yellowish-red, but some elements were
untouched by the dye. These elements of yellowish-red hair in
Balout’s study, were established on the basis of the presence of
pheomelanin, a red-brown polymeric pigment in the skin and
hair of humans. However, pheomelanin can also be found in
persons with dark brown or even black hair as well, which
gives it a reddish hue. Most natural melanins contain sulfur,
which is typically associated with pheomelanin. In scientific
tests of melanin, black hair contained as much as 5% sulfur,
3% lower than the 8.8% found in Irish red hair, but exceeding
the 2.3% found in Scandinavian blond hair. (Jolles, et al. 1996)
Thus the yellowish-red hair discovered on Rameses is well
within the range of human variation for dark haired people,
whatever the exact gene combination that led to the condition.

Rameses hair was not a typical European red, but
yellowish-red, within African variation. It was also not ultra
straight, further undermining claims of "Nordic" influence
.
Somalians and Ethiopians are SUB-SAHARANS and they
routinely produce straight-haired people without the need for
any "race mix" to explain why. The analysis on Rameses also
did not show classic "European" red hair but hair of a light red
to yellowish tinge. Black haired or dark-skinned populations
are quite capable of producing such yellowish-red color
variants on their own, as can be seen in today's east and
northeast Africa (see child's photo above). Nor is such color
variation unusual to Africa. Native dark-skinned populations in
Australia, routinely produce people with blond or reddish hair.
As noted above, ultra diverse Africa is the original source of
such variation.

The analysis also found the hair to be cymotrich or wavy, again
a characteristic quite within the range of overall African or Nile
valley physical and genetic diversity. A "pure" Nordic type of
straight hair was thus not established for Rameses. Hence the
notion of white Europeans or red-headed Caucasoids from
other areas flowing into ancient Egypt to add hair variation,
particularly the early centuries of the dynastic state is unlikely.
Such flows may have occurred most heavily in the Greek and
Roman era but say nothing about the thousands of years
preceding. The presence of pheomelanin conditions or other
genetic combinations also explains how the different hair used
in Egyptian wigs could vary in color, aside from environmental
oxidation, bleaching and dyeing.

Red hair is rare worldwide, and history shows little evidence
of Northern Europeans or "Nordics" sweeping into Egypt to
give the natives a bit of hair coloring or variation.

Most red hair is found in northern and western Europe,
especially in the British Isles, and even then it appears in minor
frequencies in Europe- some 4% of the population. It is
unlikely such populations had any major contact or influence in
the ancient Nile Valley. As noted above, red hair is
comparatively rare in the world’s populations and pheomelanin
conditions are found in dark-haired populations, and thus is
well within the range of variation from the Sahara, East Africa
and the Nile valley. “White Aryan” theories of Egypt are seen
in the works of HFK Gunther (1927), Archibald Sayce (1925)
and Raymond Dart (1939), and still find traction on a number
of 'Aryan', neo-nazi and "race" websites and blogs which
purport to show a "white Nordic Egypt" using Rameses' "red"
hair as an example. Today's scientific research however, has
debunked these dubious views, showing that red hair, while not
common world wide, is a well known variant within human
populations, even those with dark hair.

Straight or curly hair is also routine among sub-Saharans like
Somalians, who are firmly part of the East African populations.
As regards Somalians for example, Somali DNA
overwhelmingly links much more heavily with other Africans
including Kenyans & Ethiopians (85%), than with Europeans &
Middle Easterners. (15%) On Y-chromosome markers (E3b1),
Somalis (77%) and other African populations dwarf small
European (5.1%) or Middle Eastern (6.3%) frequencies. “The
data suggest that the male Somali population is a branch of the
East African population..” (Sanchez et al., High frequencies of
Y chromosome lineages.. in Somali males (2005)


 -

As one mainstream researcher notes about the dubious value
of "racial" hair analysis:


"The reader must assume, as apparently do the authors, that
the "coarseness" or "fineness" of hair can readily distinguish
races and that hair is dichotomized into these categories.
Problematically, however, virtually all who have studied hair
morphology in relation to race since the 1920’s to the present
have rejected such a characterization .. Hausman, as early as
1925, stated that it is "not possible to identify individuals from
samples of their hair, basing identification upon histological
similarities in the structure of scales and medullas, since these
may differ in hairs from the same head or in different parts of
the same hair". Rook (1975) pointed out nearly 50 years later
out that "Negroid and Caucasoid hair" are "chemically
indistinguishable".

--Tom Mieczkowsk, T. (2000). The Further Mismeasure: The
Curious Use of Racial Categorizations in the Interpretation of
Hair Analyses. Intl J Drug Testing 2000;vol 2

In numerous studies of mummies, alleged "red" hair turns
out to be affected by aging, chemical oxidation, dyeing and
other processes having nothing to do with red-headed visitors,
migrants, slaves or invaders. Red hair is rare worldwide,
occurring mostly in Northern EUrope and even then, only
within less that 9% of northern populations


"The current colour of the hair is brown with reddish
highlights, a common observation on many mummies, and
probably originated through post-mortem alteration
(Aufderheide, 2003; Wilson et al., 2001). Sun-exposure,
bacterial reaction, and embalming methods are some of the
factors that may affect the original hair colour. As a result, hair
that was originally black or brown exhibits reddish, orange or
even blond colour due to post mortem alterations. All human
hair, however, does not turn red over archaeological
time-scales (Wilson, 2001). Based on the histological analysis
of the unstained hair samples, the limited fungal influence, and
the macroscopic view, it can be assumed that the original hair
colour was brown. Similar cases of hair preservation have been
reported in studies of both mummified and non-mummified
human remains (Aufderheide, 2003; Brothwell and Dobney,
1986; Lubec et al., 1987; White, 1993; Wilson et al., 2002,
2007b)."


--C. Papageorgopoulou et al. 2008. Indications of embalming
in Roman Greece by physical, chemical and histological
analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.07.0

Nile Valley African Hair types:

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771211119/in/photostream/

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771195859/in/photostream/

 -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/4771227715/in/photostream/

Note these Africans are wearing textiles most closely related to those of ancient Egypt:

 -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_clothing_and_textiles#mediaviewer/File:Maler_der_Grabkammer_der_Nefertari_004.jpg

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