![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I tell of a time undreamed of.
Jan. 28th, 2014 11:48 amBetween the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas...
I couldn't help notice the news this morning about the genetic sampling of a cave-man from Spain which has thrown up some interesting results about our ancestors. He couldn't digest starch and was lactose intolerant because it was before the introduction of cooking and the domestication of cows, for example*. However, the thing which has had the most comment is that the man was "Dark skinned and blue-eyed", much like some inhabitants of Jamaica who are descended in part from Cromwellian soldiers who were sent to the Caribbean after the English Civil War. Tom Chivers gives a pretty good overview of things here, and the comments thread has gone bang with every fruitcake and his brother coming along to pick a fight**.
However, perhaps the most important conclusion we can draw from the description of early Europeans being "dark skinned and blue eyed" is that Conan the Barbarian actually got something right. They genuinely did look like Thulsa Doom.
Which is pretty much awesome, if you ask me.
Now, where's my giant snake?
*We still can't really digest starch - we've got a quick fix solution whereby salivary amylase helps break it down, but it's not something humans as a species are designed for.
**A hundred and fifty years ago Victorians used to go to Bedlam to watch lunatics prance and caper for their entertainment. These days I just go to newspaper comments threads. It's quicker, easier, and I don't have to pay a shilling to get in.
I couldn't help notice the news this morning about the genetic sampling of a cave-man from Spain which has thrown up some interesting results about our ancestors. He couldn't digest starch and was lactose intolerant because it was before the introduction of cooking and the domestication of cows, for example*. However, the thing which has had the most comment is that the man was "Dark skinned and blue-eyed", much like some inhabitants of Jamaica who are descended in part from Cromwellian soldiers who were sent to the Caribbean after the English Civil War. Tom Chivers gives a pretty good overview of things here, and the comments thread has gone bang with every fruitcake and his brother coming along to pick a fight**.
However, perhaps the most important conclusion we can draw from the description of early Europeans being "dark skinned and blue eyed" is that Conan the Barbarian actually got something right. They genuinely did look like Thulsa Doom.
Which is pretty much awesome, if you ask me.
Now, where's my giant snake?
*We still can't really digest starch - we've got a quick fix solution whereby salivary amylase helps break it down, but it's not something humans as a species are designed for.
**A hundred and fifty years ago Victorians used to go to Bedlam to watch lunatics prance and caper for their entertainment. These days I just go to newspaper comments threads. It's quicker, easier, and I don't have to pay a shilling to get in.
