Re: Sex, Genes, Skin Color, Sex, and Europe Only?

In sci.anthropology.paleo message
news:43ae5a7e_3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx by "rmacfarl"
<rmacfarl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> . . . :

>
> "deowll" <deowll@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:oa5rf.31215$aS5.15821@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> "rmacfarl" <rmacfarl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:1135317006.593515.294400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>> deowll wrote:
>>>> <johnwl4@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>> news:1135270506.245876.93400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> > "So there would have been selection not
>>>> > just for lighter skin, but for body shapes that were better
>>>> > adapted to the last glacial maximum that arrived about 18
>>>> > to 20 KYA in Europe...
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> I suspect that tightly stitched cloths may have greatly
>>>> reduced the need for
>>>> extreme anatomic cold adaptation and the Hsn type build is
>>>> generally considered poor for running or a host of athletic
>>>> activities.
>>>
>>> Fair call but Eskimos / Inuit have evolved this squat body
>>> shape, even with clothing, so I would expect that early
>>> European moderns in similar climates would also evolve the
>>> same way.
>>
>> Not to anything like the same degree.
>
> Why not? Why would they be under any different selection
> pressures?
>
>>>
>>> As to HSN athletic ability, they were apparently able to
>>> survive for 200KY on a 90%+ meat diet with hunting techniques
>>> akin to rodeo bull-riders, so
>>
>> They survived but my point is this is a bad trade off if you
>> don't have to make it. No other known population has ever had
>> wacked off limbs like this and there is a reason. The high
>> artic is most likely as harsh as the ice age but these people
>> haven't gone to the same extreme.
>>
>
> I don't follow. What's the bad trade-off here? Neanderthals &
> Inuit had no trouble hunting.
>
> Point is that the evidence points to selective pressure on
> cold-climate humans toward relatively shorter, more stocky body
> shapes that conserve heat better. There are sound reasons why
> this would be evolutionarily favoured (which isn't to say thart
> there aren't other sound reasons why this body shape would be
> selected against, but you need to put up a hypothesis as to what
> those countervailing pressures might be.) Cro-Magnons, unlike
> their near-contemporaries in Europe, the Neanderthals, didn't
> exhibit this body shape, which could be because they were recent
> migrants from a warmer climatic zone...

If it is true neandertals mostly lived in caves and had poor garmets,
they may have been forced to hunt in very risky ways, relative to
humans which might have stalked prey for days after the initial
spears were thrown, alternatively humans may have trapped smaller
game close to home when large game hunting was to risky. One of the
more dangerous prey would have been other Neandertals, which could
have been favored if prey completely moved out, supressing the
population density and allowing prey densities once again to rise.
.