[blam]

"Most inhabitants of the Far East have epicanthic folds on their eyes, for instance--but so do the Khoisan (the "Bushmen") of southern Africa. "

If this is true, I'm suprised that I didn't already know it. This is an adptation for cold-climates, what is it doing in Africa among some of the oldest people in Africa?

Professor Stephen Oppenheimer says that the oldest (undisputed) Mongoloid skeleton ever found is only 10,000 years old. I think the history of the Khoisan in Africa date back at least 60,000 years.

The teeth shape (Christy Turner) are defined as sinodont (Asians) and sundadont. Kennewick Man has Sundadont teeth. Sundadont is derived from the word Sundaland.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[GSlob]

J. Philippe Rushton, "Race, evolution and behavior: A life history perspective", 3rd ed. Charles Darwin Research Institute, Port Huron, MI, 2000. ISBN 0-9656836-1-3

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you for posting this very intelligent and comprehensive article on a subject that most people think they know about, but do not. It was very enlightening.

P.S. I have an early primary for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina, 2 May, less than a month away. Please visit my website in the tagline, and help however you can.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article: "The Ed McMahon Solution for Illegal Aliens"

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Just a guess but might it not help in windy climates?

[Question_Assumptions]

The epicanthic folds are not necessarily an adaptation for a cold climate. That's just one theory for why that feature is found in Asia. But there are some people who speculate about what features the earliest humans had that suspect that epicanthic folds was an early human feature that was lost in most populations, which explains why it's found at the two distant ends of human occupation but not in the middle.

[Question_Assumptions]

I keep wondering if it would be possible to publish articles like this in Discover, about a decade later, due to rapant political correctness.

[SunkenCiv]

epicanthic folds...is an adptation for cold-climates, what is it doing in Africa among some of the oldest people in Africa?

Because it isn't an adaptation for cold climates. :')

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[happygrl]

Where's Sundaland ?

Also, Bushmen are considered the original african, the ancestor of both Negroid Africans and Asians.

How is the epicanthic fold related to cold weather ?

[Jessarah]

I just did a google image search on the Khoisan to see how apparent the epicanthic folds were. They are really easy to see in the pictures. But what surprised me the most was the coloring of these people. I guess I imagined them to be extremely dark, but their skin appeared to be on the lighter side. Maybe it was the lighting of the photographs though. Not sure.

[CobaltBlue]

People with Down's syndrome have epicanthic folds. That's why they're called "Mongoloids."