Kingreaper

not the biblical timeline though, bible would be 4,000, since Noah or 6,000 since adam

SEF

In the unlikely event that anyone cares about reality as opposed to silly myths:

• Other apes have "black" skin making it probable that humans did.

• Humans in the most probable starting location based on other apes and fossils (Africa) have "black" skin.

• The oldest probable colony of humans (Australian Aborigines est. approx. 40,000 years ago) have "black" skin.

Anyone wanting to propose a different starting point has to counter all that evidence of "black" being the most likely original skin colour.

hungry_student

Sef,

That's a pretty loose usage of the word "reality," when one notes the fact that all of those so-called evidences are only "probable," and black is only the "most likely" original skin color. Maybe "theoretical musings" vs "silly myths" would make more sense.

I mean, come on: "Other apes have "black" skin making it probable that humans did." Are you serious?

-Matt

God Fearing Atheist

Its called the "extant phylogenetic bracket."

mrmoderate

I still keep in mind at all times that the Hebrew Bible is stories of the relationship between God and the Hebrews. Therefore it is perfectly practical to consider that all stories referred to the Hebrew world and not the world as we know it.

I would think in that place at that time "Think locally, have no clue as to globally" would be more the societal aspect of things.

Biff the unclean

Chimpanzees and bonobos (unlike gorillas who are born black) have white skin at birth which tends to darken over the years. Since humans are a subspecies of chimp it is therefore not at all strange that we can come in so many skin colors.
Our lack of fur combined with our origins in tropical Africa makes it a sure thing that we all started out quite black indeed

SEF

Yes, "black" humans are also born much paler than they end up - and it's nothing to do with suntan! In difficult cases the clue is usually in special areas, such as the gums of a human and the pads of a cat. I know one cat with completely white fur which is technically a black cat in terms of its skin/genes.

Peez

If I may be pedantic for a moment, that would be a hypothesis.???

In what way is interbreeding "a characteristic of microevolution?" Microevolution can occur in asexual species (in which there is no interbreeding at all), and microevolution can result in speciation (the evolution of reproductive isolation between two populations that coyukld formerly interbreed).Indians are quite dark-skinned, as are Australian aboriginals.There are Asians in Asia? (sorry, couldn't resist). Note that Indians are in Asia as well, and then there are the aboriginals of North and South America.Interestingly, Europeans are apparently more closely related to Indians than either are to sub-saharan Africans.This latter bit is no doubt true, though it is hard to imagine it happening in a matter of a few thousand years.To get that rate of evolution, especially if you started with so little genetic variation, would indeed call for a miracle. However, this is a minor problem compared to the massive evidence that Homo sapiens evolved from apes in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago, and the massive evidence that a global flood never occurred, to name just two issues.

Peez