From: H.M. Hubey
Message: 1131
Date: 2003-08-20
| Subject: | [evol-psych] Lice genes date first human clothes |
|---|---|
| Date: | Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:07:58 +0100 |
| From: | Ian Pitchford <ian.pitchford@...> |
| Reply-To: | Ian Pitchford <ian.pitchford@...> |
| Organization: | http://human-nature.com |
| To: | evolutionary-psychology@yahoogroups.com |
Nature Science Update Lice genes date first human clothes Garments appeared 70,000 years ago, suggests parasite DNA. 20 August 2003 JOHN WHITFIELD We started wearing clothes about 70,000 years ago - at least according to our lice genes. At that time the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) evolved from the head louse (P. humanus capitis), say Mark Stoneking and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The split should correspond to the time when the body louse's habitat - clothes - became widespread. Inventing clothes may have spurred our ancestors' spread into colder climates. Archaeological and genetic evidence points to modern humans having left Africa 50,000-100,000 years ago. "It's an astonishingly good fit with the origin of body lice," says Stoneking. "It all makes sense very nicely - it's about when you'd expect humans to be picking up clothing," says evolutionary biologist Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania State University. Evidence of weaving, in the form of clay bearing the imprint of cloth, dates back 27,000 years. The oldest needles are about 40,000 years old. The first clothes were presumably animal skins. But today's lice live on woven fabrics, and it's unclear whether they infest fur coats, says louse expert Chris Lyal of the Natural History Museum in London. "If lice can live on furs, they could have exploited [clothes] as soon as we started sticking them on our bodies," he says. Full text http://www.nature.com/nsu/030818/030818-7.html References Kittler, R., Kayser, M. Stoneking, M. Molecular evolution of Pediculus humanus and the origin of clothing. Current Biology, 13, 1414 - 1417, (2003). http://www.current-biology.com/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS096098220300507 4 Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
-- Mark Hubey hubeyh@... http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey