Tangled Metal wrote:A skeleton found in caves in the cheddar gorge was determined to have been from one of the earliest inhabitants of what is now called the UK. They also determined that the human was dark skinned. Early humans in northern Europe were likely to be dark complexion like Mediterranean peoples or darker.
If dark skin inhibits vitamin D production in comparison to lighter skin would it not show in the bones of skeletons from that period? By all accounts the skeletons from there were of healthy individuals.
It's a great question.
His skin colour is disputed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man
I don't know how much is known about his health. You'd certainly be able to detect frank rickets. In theory you could measure bone mineralisation but I don't know if it's been done.
The argument about the development of pale skin doesn't depend on dark skinned individuals having explicit diseases, only lower reproductive success in the long run. And that difference wouldn't have to be large.
Jonathan