Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 10 February 2018
DNA suggests 10,000-year-old Brit had dark skin, blue eyes

By JILL LAWLESS light, which is needed to who came from the east in
Associated Press produce vitamin D. Ched- the Bronze Age and who
LONDON (AP) — DNA from dar Man shares a genetic also brought new genetics
a 10,000-year-old skeleton profile with several other into the region.” Cheddar
found in an English cave Mesolithic-era individuals Man is the oldest complete
suggests the oldest-known found in Spain, Hungary skeleton found in Britain.
Briton had dark skin and and Luxembourg whose Humans had lived in Britain
blue eyes, researchers said DNA has already been an- off and on for thousands of
Wednesday. Scientists from alyzed. The group, known years before his time, but
Britain’s Natural History Mu- as Western Hunter-Gath- they had been wiped out
seum and University Col- erers, migrated to Europe during periodic ice ages.
lege London analyzed from the Middle East after Cheddar Man would have
the genome of “Cheddar the last Ice Age, about been one of a tiny popu-
Man,” who was found in 12,000 years ago. lation of hunter-gatherers
Cheddar Gorge in south- Dan Bradley, a professor of in Britain at the time. Sci-
west England in 1903. Full facial reconstruction model of a head based on the skull of population genetics at Trin- entists, who have been
Scientists led by museum Britain’s oldest complete skeleton on display during a screening ity College Dublin, said the studying his skeleton for
DNA expert Ian Barnes event of The First Brit: Secrets Of The 10,000 Year Old Man at The findings were credible. decades, say he appears
drilled into the skull to ex- Natural History Museum, in London Wednesday Feb. 7, 2018. “There are other data from to have had a healthy diet
tract DNA from bone pow- Associated Press hunter-gatherers who lived but died in his 20s, possibly
der. They say analysis indi- go together,” said Tom people looked like in the in western Europe, and through violence.
cates he had blue eyes, Booth, a postdoctoral re- past based on what peo- they also show darker skin Dutch “paleo artists” Al-
dark curly hair and “dark to searcher at the museum ple look like in the present, and light eyes, blue eyes,” fons and Adrie Kennis cre-
black” skin pigmentation. who worked on the proj- and that the pairings of fea- said Bradley, who was not ated a likeness of Cheddar
The researchers say the ev- ect. “It seems that pale tures we are used to seeing involved with the study. Man based on the British
idence suggests that Euro- eyes entered Europe long today aren’t something “Modern Europeans are a scientists’ findings, showing
peans’ pale skin tones de- before pale skin or blond that’s fixed,” Booth said on mixture of people like this, a man with long curly hair,
veloped much later than hair, which didn’t come the museum website. It’s who are older hunter-gath- a short beard and striking
originally thought. along until after the arrival thought ancient humans erer inhabitants of western blue eyes.The research will
“Cheddar Man subverts of farming.” “He reminds living in northern regions Europe, and people who be explored in a television
people’s expectations of us that you can’t make developed pale skin be- came in with the advent documentary on Britain’s
what kinds of genetic traits assumptions about what cause it absorbs more sun- of agriculture, and people Channel 4 on Feb. 18.q

Water forecast is bleak for major

reservoir in Southwest U.S.

By DAN ELLIOTT of the National Oceanic izona border, helps en-
Associated Press and Atmospheric Adminis- sure the Colorado River
DENVER (AP) — One of the tration. system has enough water
most important reservoirs in Smith said there is only a to get through dry years.
the southwestern U.S. will 10 percent chance that The river supplies water to
likely collect less than half enough mountain snow will about 40 million people
its normal amount of spring fall during the rest of the and 6,300 square miles
runoff this year because of winter and spring to bring (16,000 square kilome-
a warm, dry winter across inflows back to average. ters) of farmland in seven
much of the region, fore- It was the seventh-worst states: Arizona, Califor-
casters said Wednesday. forecast for Lake Powell in nia, Colorado, Nevada,
Lake Powell, which strad- 54 years. New Mexico, Utah and
dles Utah and Arizona, is “Things are looking pretty Wyoming. The river also
expected to get 47 per- grim” along some of the serves cities and farms in
cent of its average inflow tributaries that feed the northwest Mexico.
This June 21, 2015 file photo shows Lake Powell behind Glen because of scant snow in Colorado River, Smith said Lackluster runoff into Lake
Canyon Dam near Page, Ariz. Forecasters say one of the most the mountains that feed during an online confer- Powell this spring is not
important reservoirs in the Southwestern U.S. will likely collect
less than half its normal amount of spring runoff this year the Colorado River, said ence on the spring outlook likely to have an immedi-
because of a warm, dry winter across much of the region. Greg Smith, a hydrologist for Lake Powell. ate impact on water us-
Associated Press with the Colorado Basin Powell, along with Lake ers because most reser-
River Forecast Center, part Mead on the Nevada-Ar- voirs upriver from Powell
filled up after last winter’s
healthy snowfall, said
Marlon Duke, a spokes-
man for the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation, which
manages Powell, Mead
and other reservoirs. But
consecutive dry winters
could mean some water
users won’t get their nor-
mal allotment in future
years.q