I was wondering, do or Did Black Africans house the most variations with regards to DNA thus you get many different phenotypes of Africans who have no admixture???

Do you HVAE to have admixture in order to get diferent phenotypes amongst the people??

what about the olmec? They are, from what I understand negroid or african yet they have alsmost Asian eyes

Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C.

Bronze head of an ancient king from Benin, West Africa,
The tradition of fine sculpture in West Africa goes back long before 1000 B.C.

[This message has been edited by Tee20 (edited 19 September 2005).]

The African-Olmecs of Ancient Mexico have beenfound to have racial and cultual similarities with ancient West Africa and Nubia-Kush. This photo shows a distinctly African head from ancient Mexico compared to African heads from West Africa (Nigeria)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tee20:
Hi I'm new and have NO IDEA about DNA nor Egyptology. I was hoping to learn more from some of you.

I was wondering, do or Did Black Africans house the most variations with regards to DNA thus you get many different phenotypes of Africans who have no admixture???

---

Dr Spencer Wells, Harvard evolutionary geneticist:. There is more genetic diversity in any single African village than in the whole world outside Africa.

Why is this?

Because modern humans originate in Africa and lived only in Africa for much of our genetic history.

Today Africans make up only a fraction of the population but still retain the majority of genetic diversity.

Again, why?

Geneticist Sarah Tishkoff: Non-Africans are recently descendant from a small population of East Africans.

Throughout much of modern human history, sub-Saharan Africa has maintained a large effective population size.

Physiologically Africans have always been diverse as well.

There is no such thing as a single African phenotype, or 'pure' race, and there never has been.

All native Africans share a common ancestry [subsequent to the out-migration of Non Africans] regardless of how they look.

Let us say that one Berber group left the main group (from mountains) and travelled to a coastal area, that founder gene will mutate (in a good way) based on environment, exposure to heat and mating choice so we have an introduction of 'new blood' into that group thereby changing both genotype and phenotype.

quote:

---

Originally posted by yazid904:
Let us a say that Berbers (e.g.) left southern Africa, and being a nomadic people, with each place they stayed they picked up the genotype of that group in contact.

---

And phenotype, yes in general that seems reasonable.

quote:

---

When they reached N. Africa, they encountered the natural barreir of mountains and had the proitection of cold along with the tools to develop heat, build structuer and still be safe. Over generations they developed a they are today.

---

quote:

---

It seems that Africans have alot of junk DNA that cannot be accounted for and thereby giving it the name 'junk' because no one can figure out its use!

---

Well, all the Y chomosome SNP markers [that we use to identify haplotypes] are junk, and by definition, the older the lineage the more 'junk' in them, so....

Technically older African populations may retain more information that is not 'junk' as well, but it's not like it makes you any 'better' or 'worse' genetically. It just, "is."

People see what they want to see.

quote:

---

By the way, those Benin statues have also been said to have "semitic" noses. lol.
People see what they want to see.

If Europeans can look at the Great Sphinx which looks more stereotypically African than any of those Benin statues, and see....European, then, anything goes.

---

Yea.

So far I've just read one book about Egypt and am trying to start to get into it more. The was called "The Destruction of Black Civilization" by Chancellor Williams. I know it's from an Afro-centric perspective but I assure you he lays into the blacks in his book as well.

What I'm starting to learn is that scientist, anthropologist have used thick lips, wide noses, "nappy hair" as the basis for saying if someone was "negroid" or not. In the context of ancient Egypt, one had to have a combo of ALL three of these features to be considered negro. If just have dark skin wavy hair, thin lips, and a pointed nose you would probably be considered caucasion.

It's funny how the rules change in America--if you have "ONE DROP" of Black blood then you're BLACK. It's interesting.

Tee, there are some nice threads on this subject at my other forum entitled thenilevalley