Meet Mullet Man: hair follicle unlocks secrets of the ancients

[Kadie]

Meet Mullet Man: hair follicle unlocks secrets of the ancients
DEBORAH SMITH
February 11, 2010 - 9:52AM



HE HAD brown eyes, dark skin, thick blackish hair and type A blood. This Eskimo, who lived about 4000 years ago in Greenland, also had dry earwax, an increased risk of going bald and the metabolism of a person who could survive in a cold climate.

And his ancestors were, to the surprise of scientists, ancient people in east Siberia rather than neighbouring Native Americans or Inuit.

All this detailed information about the long-dead man comes from a study of a clump of his hair, which was preserved for thousands of years in the Arctic permafrost. Given the name Inuk, he will go down in history as the first ancient person to have had his full DNA code, or genome, sequenced.

Inuk, who was also inbred, is thought to have belonged to the extinct Saqqaq culture, the first group of people known to have settled in Greenland.

snip...
Inuk's ancestry suggests that a previously unknown human migration occurred about 5500 years ago. It appears a large group of his ancestors from eastern Siberia crossed the Bering Strait and travelled through North America to Greenland.

more...
http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/meet-mullet-man-hair-follicle-unlocks-secrets-of-the-ancients-20100211-nt4j.html

[spanone]

1. wasn't he in the kentucky headhunters?

[calimary]

2. LOL!!!

[blogslut]

3. I guess his ancestors were cold weather fans

I mean, seriously. They arrive in a relatively temperate North America look around and think: "Sorry. Not cold enough." and keep going?

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Looks like John Travolta's ancestor

There has to be a movie in that ...

--d!

[On the Road]

5. They Never Sequenced

Otzi, the 5000-Year-Old Iceman from the Alps?

http://wilderdom.com/evolution/OtziIcemanAlpsPictures.htm