Talk:Human skin color/Archives/2013/January

This is an archive of past discussions about Human skin color. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Eye color & Ancestry Debate???

The preference over which eye color is attractive, depends on one's culture (taught beliefs, media portrayals, etc.) and it does not matter to me what eye colors people find attractive. I like dark eyes, as long as they are medium to big in size and have an oval or almond shape. This is because most of the people in my adopted family are gracious and easy to entreat full blooded Native Americans (Choctaws) and I am Ethiopian. The indigenous people of Ethiopia in my opinion are the best looking in the world as are Native Americans.But every country/ethnicity can have beautiful looking and symmetrical people regardless of skin/ hair or eye color. Beautiful is beautiful, Period!:))

I would also like to add that brown (dark eyes) are dominant and are seen in more than 90% of the world's total population (look at Indigenous Africans, Asians, Australians, North and South Americans). Dark eyes have more melanin and greater resistance to solar radiation and are less liely to get sun damaged in warm climates. Light eyes (blue, gray, green, etc) are recessive and seen mostly in indigenous European peoples, due to the fact that Europe had abundant snow and was very cold. Dark eyes would have been susceptible to snow blindness. As for skin color determining eye color, usually melanin rich complexions (by melanin I mean eumelanin--- brown and black skin tones)are usually paired with dark eyes (brown or black). And non pigmented peoples have blue, gray and green eyes. However, in areas where genetic mixing was common ( places colonized by Europe ---- West Africa, North and South America, and parts of India) generational mixing led to different phenotypes uncommon to Europeans, Africans, and AMericans. Past genetic mixing, can make it where 2 parents (from the present---who might both have dark eyes and dark skin) have children with dark skin and light eyes. Simply because a great great grand parent was of European descent or had mixed ancestry. Duh! Vice versa, two parents with phenotypes--- blonde hair, blue eyes--- can have dark haired and dark eyed kids. Because one or both parents carried alleles for pigmented features (maybe from past generations intermarrying with non Euro people).

• • • • • Duncan

(Signing unsigned post so it can be archived) Tobus2 (talk) 11:14, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Use of shelter or caves

There seems to be no mention of the use of shelter or caves having an effect on pigment. For example if people who leave in a very cold area live in caves or shelters most of the day and only venture outside to hunt then surely they would lose their pigmentation very quickly. But then if they live in a temperate area that is not extremely hot or cold then the use of shelters would have a similar effect.

(Signing unsigned post so it can be archived) Tobus2 (talk) 11:14, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Info on cancer

This article omits two very important- though little know facts about skin color and sun cancer.

First being this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5219752.stm

I think this is reffering to the fact that pitch black skin compared to pale white skin filters only twice less UV radiation than light skin. That's a rather sizable difference, but minute for a color on a wholly different side of the spectrum- not to mention the skin colors inbetween.

And of course this:

www.mercola.com/2000/sep/3/vitamin_d_cancer.htm ^{[unreliable fringe source?]} http://www.myhealthsense.com/F020604_somesun.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5334534.stm

A better vitamin D metabolism and the like would obviously correct for much of this though.

I'm not sure how to frame these into the main article, but they're very important pieces.

(Signing unsigned post so it can be archived) Tobus2 (talk) 11:14, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Colour of cave figures

This seems like weak evidence for a recent shift in skin colour among Europeans. Is it not possible that the figures only appear dark so that they are contrasted to the relative paleness of the stone?

(Signing unsigned post so it can be archived) Tobus2 (talk) 11:14, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Last Ice Age

It is my understanding though reserch that Skin Colors of all types are from the Last Ice Age. What ever caused the last ice age is cause for debate, impacts/super volcanos ect...But the fact of the matter is that the gene pool bottel necks and there is a drop off of population of people. When the planet started to warm up hunter gatherers were in set places on earth for long peroids of time and depending on the location certain evolutionary changes happened. Skin color is one of them plus many more...67.177.232.188 (talk) 11:11, 22 January 2013 (UTC)