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Is Kmtian wavy and straight hair the only trait not shared with Ancient Nubians?
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Djehuti: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by lamin: [qb] How then do we explain the hair of the Southern African San who apparently evolved in extremely dry desert conditions. The Kalahari and Namib deserts are vast areas that have been like the Sahel and Sahara zones in terms of ecology, climate, etc. They have been in that area for more than 25,000 years yet they are not as heavily pigmented as Sahel groups such as the Dogon, Dinka or Nuer. On the other hand the hair is extremely coiled--more so that other African groups. [/qb][/QUOTE]Your question above was answered before on multiple occasions, though I don't know if you or others asked it. But basically the the ancestors of the San did NOT originally live in desert environment. During the glacial maximum of the late Pleistocene at the time of OOA. Southern Africa was not only humid but a [i]wetland[/i] type of environment. The Kalahari and Namib deserts formed only recently. [QUOTE][qb]The most apt theory it seems is one based on the idea of "population isolates" living for thousands of years and breeding among themselves uniquely. [It's much the same way that languages develop--but at a much faster rate]. These "population isolates" over time develop traits that have no particular adaptive value one way or another. Thus hair forms of any type could develop in any climatic conditions. There does seem however that pigmentation is subject to adaptive pressures on account of the effect of UV rays. The same may be said for average population heights. The San are small and gracile yet the Dinka are quite tall. The same for nasal forms. Nasal forms of any metric can evolve anywhere and ultimate averages are determined only by the contingencies of the breeding mechanisms within population isolates. If hair forms evolved according to climatic principles then how does one explain male pattern baldness--if the ultimate adaptive value of cranial hair is to offer some sort of protection against UV rays or in tropical regions, cranial cooling? [/qb][/QUOTE]Male pattern baldness has NOTHING to do with hair form but is the natural result of side-effects of testosterone on certain individuals whose cells cannot metabolize certain toxic effects of the hormone properly. (Note male pattern baldness is observed in a number of species of mammals including our closest relatives chimpanzees) Though those with thin, non eliptical type hair are more susceptible to hair loss than thicker or more eliptical type hair. As for population isolates, I don't know what this has to do exactly with hair form. The Tazmanians were very much isolated yet had tightly coiled hair which differed from their relatives in mainland Australia with wavy hair. Papuans and other Melanesians had tightly coiled hair yet certain aborigines in Indonesia had wavy hair as well. Even in southern India while the majority of indigenes had wavy hair there were some small populations who had tightly curled hair as well. I don't know exactly what population isolation or congregation have anything to do with hair form. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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