700 year old man's face is revealed -Science News

[yuiyoshida]

[Sanity Claws]

1. His genes have been passed down

He looks like someone you would see today. Think he has red hair?

[mopinko]

3. i def think he had red hair.

but that may just be my irish talking.

[Siwsan]

2. I find stories like this to be endlessly fascinating

I think I should have gone into Forensic Anthropology.

[safeinOhio]

4. Hardly looks

over 45.

[sarge43]

5. Looks a lot like Iain Glen, Ser Jorah Mormont, Game of Thrones

An ancestor, perhaps?

[liberaltrucker]

7. I was thinking Hugh Laurie

From "House".

[sarge43]

8. Yes. Definitely a lowland Scot vibe there

Thin lips, long upper lip, diamond cutting cheek bones, long narrow skull.

If he had children and any of their descendants survived the Black Death, he could be the ancestor of a lot of people. The population of the British Isles crashed following the plague; estimated it was nearly halved, down to 2.5 million. It didn't begin to rebound until the 1600's. So, not a lot of choices and spousal unit often would be a not so distant cousin.

It would be interesting if his DNA could be extracted and analyzed.

[oldcynic]

6. 700 years is no time at all

Even Neanderthals could pass in our era. We need to get over the idea that humans have "advanced". (quotes mean wiggle-room, don't they?) The difference between us and them is us can throw rocks further and kill more living things.

[GeoWilliam750]

9. Indeed, if anything evolution seems to be going in reverse

The average cranial capacity of the Cro-magnon man was significantly larger than is ours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro-Magnon

"Cro-Magnons were robustly built and powerful. The body was generally heavy and solid with a strong musculature. The forehead was fairly straight rather than sloping like in Neanderthals, and with only slight browridges. The face was short and wide. The chin was prominent. The brain capacity was about 1,600 cc (98 cu in), larger than the average for modern humans.[7]"

https://phys.org/news/2010-03-cro-magnon-skull-brains-shrunk.html

&quot PhysOrg.com) -- A new replica of an early modern human brain has provided further evidence for the theory that the human brain has been shrinking. The skull belonged to an elderly Cro Magnon man, whose skeleton is called Cro Magnon 1. The entire skeleton was discovered in 1868 in the Cro Magnon cave in Dordogne, France, and has since become one of the most famous Upper Palaeolithic skeletons. Using new technology, researchers have produced a replica of the 28,000-year-old brain and found that it is about 15-20% larger than our brains."

Thus, one can say to one's Republican acquaintances, "Did you know that the average cave-man from 25,000 years ago had a brain 15-20% larger than the average Republican?" (Substitute name of group to be ribbed as desired, e.g. Cubs fan, lawyer, corporate executive, teenager, Texan, NRA activist, Nickelback fan, beer drinker, etc.).

[oldcynic]

11. no sabertooth tigers shrinks the brain

We are the apex predator...every species requires an enemy to keep it fit. We are breeding ourselves stupid.

[Warpy]

10. They've reconstructed an amazing bunch of faces

including a Neanderthal boy of about eight. He not only wouldn't be noticed as anything special on a playground, he was a cute little kid. Other reconstructions have been of Romans found in a cellar near Pompeii. You wouldn't stare at them on a city bus, either.

Recent analysis of everything from tooth tartar to sewer contents has disclosed that rich and poor enjoyed much the same diet of meat, fish, vegetables, exotic spices, and bread. While there was a huge difference in house sizes, jewelry, amount of coinage, and sophistication of weaponry, the standard of living concerning diet seems to have been pretty constant and not very different from the diet of the region today.

I'm glad to have seen this evolve from a few artists working in clay and building up the layers of muscle, tendon, and skin slowly to the computerized reconstructions that can be done in a few days via laser measurement of the skull.