What is Steatopygia? What is Steatopygia? Apr 4, 2007 15:09 GMT · By Stefan Anitei · Share: Steatopygia is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks. The deposit of fat is not confined to the buttock regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs, forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee. This is a widespread genetic trait of the Khoisan (more commonly known as Bushmen). It is specially a female feature, but it occurs in a lesser degree at men too (in most genetic variations of Homo sapiens, females tend to exhibit a greater propensity to fat tissue accumulation in the buttock region as compared with males). This trait is also found amongst the Pygmies of Central Africa or from Andaman Islands (Southeast Asia). Khoisan see this as a beauty sign: it begins in infancy and is fully developed by the time of the first pregnancy. Steatopygia is often accompanied by the formation of elongated labia (labia minora may extend as much as 4 inches (10 cm) (!) outside the vulva).

Look how a Boer in the XVIII the century describes this trait: "The lining of the body appears to be loose, so that in certain places part of it dangles out. They have to themselves this peculiarity from other races that most of them possess finger-shaped appendages, always double, hanging down from the private parts; these are evidently nymphae (labia minora)." James Cook, the famous British navigator, noted in 1771, while passing by Cape colony: "The great question among natural historians, whether the women of this country have or have not that fleshy flap or apron which has been called the Sinus pudoris. The most recent testimony of travellers commands us to put the cutaneous ventrale of female Hottentots in the same category as the human tail, and in like manner to relegate it to the fables." Steatopygia was studied for the first time by scientists in 1805, by French zoologists P?ron and Lesueur, but at that time, many thought this was inaccurate or exaggerated, or that they had examined monstrosities and represented them as normal, or perhaps the subject may had been regarded as indelicate.

The labia forms can vary amongst Bushmen populations: in South West Africa, each labium is flattened and broadened to form a wing-like object, when laid out flat (the 'butterfly' type) while in Botswana and the Cape Province of South Africa the width is reduced and the anterior part thickened, resulting in an object like the wattle of a turkey-cock. The 'wattle' type is commonly 3-4" long (7? - 10 cm), the 'butterfly' l? - 2" (3.8 - 6.3 cm). Pygmies (both from Africa and Asia) and Bushmen are seen as the remnants of the most archaic current races and once, they inhabited most of Africa, from the Gulf of Aden to the Cape of Good Hope and all southern Asia till New Guinea. Hottentots, of mixed Bushmen-Bantu roots, also often present this trait, as do Basters, mulattoes between Boers and Bushmen or Hottentots, while at the Khoisan, males can present steatopygia more often than Hottentot women.

It seems that steatopygia in both sexes was common in early types of Homo sapiens. Paleolithic figurines and cave paintings from Europe depicting women, some as old as 30,000 years, clearly display stetopygia. Those Cro-Magnon were more similar racially to the current Bushmen and Pygmies than any current European type. However, the type of Neolithic Venus figurines (about 10,000 years old) do not strictly match steatopygia, since they have an angle of about 120 degrees between the back and the buttocks, while steatopygia is characterized at an angle of just about 90 degrees. In 3500 years old Egyptian painting, the queen of Punt is presented displaying steatopygia, so this country still not precisely located could have been situated in Eastern Africa. These very large buttocks occur sporadically also among current African and Europid women. (of course, some African women can possess Khoisan genes, so they display real steatopygia).

In steatopygia, the buttocks consist of masses of fat incorporated between criss-crossed sheets of connective tissue, joined to one another in a regular manner, while in other greatly enlarged buttocks, there is a mere accumulation of fat between two of the gluteus muscles (maximus and medius). Steatopygia is believed to be an adaptive physiological feature for female humans living in hot environments, as it maximizes their bodies' surface-area/volume ratio but keeps enough fat to produce hormones needed for menstruation. With fat deposited heavily in only certain areas in the middle on the trunk of the body, the limbs are left slim enough to expel heat more efficiently. But more likely, being able to store large fat amounts is important in very seasonal environments like those in African savanna, where during the dry season, a food shortage installs, and live largely off of their stored fat. Bushmen and pygmies are still hunters-gatherers, unlike other African populations that practice agriculture, so they do not experience severe food shortage during the dry season. Women possessing these fat deposits can keep on reproducing through the unproductive seasons, thereby increasing their fitness. Others say that the steatopygia developed as a response to sexual selection.

These Bushmen.... Read What is Steatopygia? By: Stefan Anitei, Science Editor What is Steatopygia? An ancestral trait Steatopygia is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks. The deposit of fat is not confined to the buttock regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs, forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee.This is a widespread genetic trait of the Khoisan (more commonly known as Bushmen). It is specially a female feature, but it occurs in a lesser degree at men too (in most genetic variations of Homo sapiens, females tend to exhibit a greater propensity to fat tissue accumulation in the buttock region as compared with males). This trait is also found amongst the Pygmies of Central Africa or from Andaman Islands (Southeast Asia). Khoisan see this as a beauty sign: it begins in infancy and is fully developed by the time of the first pregnancy.

Steatopygia is often accompanied by the formation of elongated labia (labia minora may extend as much as 4 inches (10 cm) (!) outside the vulva).Look how a Boer in the XVIII the century describes this trait:&quot;The lining of the body appears to be loose, so that in certain places part of it dangles out. They have to themselves this peculiarity from other races that most of them possess finger-shaped appendages, always double, hanging down from the private parts; these are evidently nymphae (labia minora).&quot; James Cook, the famous British navigator, noted in 1771, while passing by Cape colony: &quot;The great question among natural historians, whether the women of this country have or have not that fleshy flap or apron which has been called the Sinus pudoris.

The most recent testimony of travellers commands us to put the cutaneous ventrale of female Hottentots in the same category as the human tail, and in like manner to relegate it to the fables.&quot; [img=2]Steatopygia was studied for the first time by scientists in 1805, by French zoologists Péron and Lesueur, but at that time, many thought this was inaccurate or exaggerated, or that they had examined monstrosities and represented them as normal, or perhaps the subject may had been regarded as indelicate. The labia forms can vary amongst Bushmen populations: in South West Africa, each labium is flattened and broadened to form a wing-like object, when laid out flat (the 'butterfly' type) while in Botswana and the Cape Province of South Africa the width is reduced and the anterior part thickened, resulting in an object like the wattle of a turkey-cock. The 'wattle' type is commonly 3-4&quot; long (7½ - 10 cm), the 'butterfly' l½ - 2&quot; (3.8 - 6.3 cm).

Pygmies (both from Africa and Asia) and Bushmen are seen as the remnants of the most archaic current races and once, they inhabited most of Africa, from the Gulf of Aden to the Cape of Good Hope and all southern Asia till New Guinea. [img=3][img=4]Hottentots, of mixed Bushmen-Bantu roots, also often present this trait, as do Basters, mulattoes between Boers and Bushmen or Hottentots, while at the Khoisan, males can present steatopygia more often than Hottentot women. It seems that steatopygia in both sexes was common in early types of Homo sapiens. Paleolithic figurines and cave paintings from Europe depicting women, some as old as 30,000 years, clearly display stetopygia. Those Cro-Magnon were more similar racially to the current Bushmen and Pygmies than any current European type.

However, the type of Neolithic Venus figurines (about 10,000 years old) do not strictly match steatopygia, since they have an angle of about 120 degrees between the back and the buttocks, while steatopygia is characterized at an angle of just about 90 degrees.In 3500 years old Egyptian painting, the queen of Punt is presented displaying steatopygia, so this country still not precisely located could have been situated in Eastern Africa. These very large buttocks occur sporadically also among current African and Europid women. (of course, some African women can possess Khoisan genes, so they display real steatopygia). [img=5]In steatopygia, the buttocks consist of masses of fat incorporated between criss-crossed sheets of connective tissue, joined to one another in a regular Steatopygia in a Hottentot woman Page 1 Copyright (c) 2001-2012 Softpedia. All rights reserved. SoftpediaTM and SoftpediaTM logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.

manner, while in other greatly enlarged buttocks, there is a mere accumulation of fat between two of the gluteus muscles (maximus and medius).Steatopygia is believed to be an adaptive physiological feature for female humans living in hot environments, as it maximizes their bodies' surface-area/volume ratio but keeps enough fat to produce hormones needed for menstruation. [img=6]With fat deposited heavily in only certain areas in the middle on the trunk of the body, the limbs are left slim enough to expel heat more efficiently.But more likely, being able to store large fat amounts is important in very seasonal environments like those in African savanna, where during the dry season, a food shortage installs, and live largely off of their stored fat.Bushmen and pygmies are still hunters-gatherers, unlike other African populations that practice agriculture, so they do not experience severe food shortage during the dry season. Women possessing these fat deposits can keep on reproducing through the unproductive seasons, thereby increasing their fitness.Others say that the steatopygia developed as a response to sexual selection. These Bushmen.... Page 2 Copyright (c) 2001-2012 Softpedia. All rights reserved.

SoftpediaTM and SoftpediaTM logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL. 1000+ images about Steatopygia on Pinterest | Kim kardashian, Europe and In south africa Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Steatopygia 29 Pins189 Followers Steatopygia (/stiːˌætɵˈpɪdʒiə/;[1] from the Greek στέαρ stéar, "tallow" and πυγή pugḗ, "rump") is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks. The deposit of fat is not confined to the gluteal regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs, forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee. It often is accompanied by the formation known as elongated labia (labia minora that may extend as much as four inches beyond the outer reaches of the vulva). Steatopygia : Wikis (The Full Wiki) The Full Wiki Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it!

See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Khoikhoi woman and man (drawing of 1900). The woman is exhibiting steatopygia. Steatopygia (pronounced /stiːˌætɵˈpɪdʒiə/, [1] Greek : στεατοπυγία) is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks . The deposit of fat is not confined to the gluteal regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs , forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee . Contents 4 References History This development constitutes a genetic characteristic of the Khoisan . It is especially prevalent in the women of this tribe, but also occurs to a lesser degree in the males. In most ethnic groups of Homo sapiens, females tend to exhibit a greater propensity to adipose tissue accumulation in the buttock region as compared with males. It has also been observed among the Pygmies of Central Africa and the Onge -tribe of the Andaman Islands .

Among the Khoisan, it is regarded as a sign of beauty : it begins in infancy and is fully developed by the time of the first pregnancy . It is often accompanied by the formation known as elongated labia ( labia minora that may extend as much as 4 inches outside the vulva ). This was historically known as the "hottentot apron" - now deemed a very offensive term. Steatopygia would seem to have been a characteristic of a population which once extended from the Gulf of Aden to the Cape of Good Hope , of which stock Khoisan and Pygmies are remnants. While the Khoisan afford the most noticeable examples of its development, it occurs in other parts of Africa, and occurs even more frequently among male Basters than among Khoikhoi women.[citation needed] It is also observed among Andamanese Negrito women. It has been suggested that this feature was once more widespread. Paleolithic Venus figurines , sometimes referred to as "steatopygian Venus" figures have been discovered from Europe to Siberia, presenting a remarkable development of the thighs, and even the prolongation of the labia minora, has been used to support this theory [1] .

Whether these were intended to be lifelike or exaggeratory, even idealistic, is unclear. However, these figures do not strictly qualify as steatopygian, since they exhibit an angle of approximately 120 degrees between the back and the buttocks [2] , while steatopygia is diagnosed at an angle of about 90 degrees only[citation needed]. Evolutionary hypotheses Steatopygia is believed to be an adaptive physiological feature for female humans living in hot environments, as it maximizes their bodies' surface-area/volume ratio but keeps enough fat to produce hormones needed for menstruation. With fat deposited heavily in only certain areas in the middle on the trunk of the body, the limbs are left slim enough to expel heat more efficiently. But more likely, being able to store large fat amounts is important in very seasonal environments like those in African savanna, where during the dry season, a food shortage ensues, and people live largely off of their stored fat.

See also Grimaldi, Khoisan: The First Modern Humans in Europe (The First Homo-Sapien-Sapien in Europe) The First Modern Humans in Europe Khoisan (Khoi + San) - Is the name for the two original ethnic groups of Southern Africa. From the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period, a hunting and gathering culture known as the Sangoan occupied this area. Today's San and Khoi people resemble their ancient skeletal remains and are believed to be their descendants. The Khoisan people were the inhabitants of much of southern Africa before the southward Bantu expansion, and later European colonization. Both Khoi and San people share physical and linguistic characteristics, and it seems clear that the Khoi branched forth from the San when they adopted the practice of herding cattle and goats from neighboring Bantu speaking groups. Culturally they are divided into the hunter gatherer San people (commonly known as Bushmen) and the pastoral Khoi. In the Khoisan language, consonants are pronounced with a clicking sound.

This prompted their Dutch invaders to call them “Hottentots” – a derogatory word meaning "stutterer" or "stammerer" in the language of the Dutch invaders; Who, together with British and German settlers, would eventually exterminate them with the Herero and Namaqua Genocides. One of the great ironies of Human History, is that this marks the second time, that these very same peoples – the British, Dutch, and Germans - would exterminate Khoisans and seize their lands. It is a repeat of what happened (ca. 500 B.C.), when the ancestors of today's British, Dutch, and Germans: The Celts and Germans who migrated into Europe from the place of their evolution, (the Eurasian Plains): exterminated the Khoisan inhabitants of Europe and seized their lands. It appears that unfortunately, word never got back to those in Africa, as to what the Caucasians were likely to do. Khoisan: The worlds oldest human group According to Knight et al.

(2003) Y-haplogroup A, the most diverse or oldest-diverging Y haplogroup transmitted purely by patrilineal descent, is today present in various Khoisan groups at frequencies of 12-44%, and the other Y-haplogroups present have been formed by recent admixture of Bantu male lineages E3a (18-54%), and in some groups, noticeable Pygmy traces are visible (B2b). The Khoisan also show the largest genetic diversity in matrilineally transmitted mtDNA of all human populations. Their original mtDNA haplogroups L1d and L1k are one of the oldest-diverging female lineages as well. Khoisan imagination and artistry Around 75,000 years ago, in a cave near the southern Cape shoreline in South Africa, a human drilled tiny holes into the shells of snails and strung them as beads to make the oldest known jewelry. The shells are marked with traces of red ochre, suggesting they were either decorated with iron oxide pigment or; they were worn by someone wearing primitive makeup with iron oxide pigment. They are the first evidence of artistic creativity and symbolism in Modern Man.

This artistic creativity in the Khoisan; would be continued and improved upon. Steatopygia Females Steatopygia - is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks extending to the outside and front of the thighs, forming a thick layer reaching sometimes to the knee. This constitutes a genetic characteristic of some Khoisan females. It has also been noted among the Pygmies of Central Africa and the Andamanese Negritos of the Andaman Islands. Among the Khoisan, it is regarded as a sign of beauty: it begins in infancy and is fully developed by the time of the first pregnancy. While the Khoisan afford the most noticeable examples of its development, it is by no means rare in other parts of Africa, and occurs even more frequently among male Basters than among Khoikhoi women. The Khoisans admiration for steatopygia females, together with his great artistic ability, will provide artifacts that are a great aid in tracking their migrations across Europe and Asia. Migration to Europe Sometime about 45,000 B.C.

The Great Glacial Ice Sheets that covered most of Europe, started to melt and a group, or groups of these Khoisan peoples walked across the Gibraltar straits and entered Europe. This marks the first time in Human History that modern Humans have crossed over into the formally frozen wilderness of Europe. Once in Europe, Grimaldi Man continued his migrations, and came to eventually inhabit all of Europe and Northern Asia. The Easternmost limit of his range, appears to have been the settlement known as Mal'ta in Siberia Russia, just north of Mongolia. Please note: One of the sad, and unfortunate facts of life, is that many Anthropologists, Researchers and Academics, still refuse to acknowledge that Africans were the first Human colonizers of Europe. To hide this fact, they prefer to use the terms Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures; which is fine, it still means Grimaldi. However, the current fad of attributing Grimaldi artifacts to the Humanoid Cro-Magnon is in all ways, mystifying. After all, thought different, Cro-Magnon like Grimaldi, was a Black African.

One of the first evidences of this historic journey of Grimaldi, was found at the caverns of Grimaldi (Baousse-Rousse), between Mentone and Ventimiglia and on the Italian side of the international boundary, these caverns form one of the most compact groups of paleolithic caverns in all Europe. Counting two small rock-shelters, the group includes nine stations, the most important being the Grotte des Enfants, La Barma Grande, Grotte du Cavillon and the Grotte du Prince. General attention was first called to this region many years ago by Dr. Paul Riviere's discovery of a human skeleton in the Grotte du Cavillon, the so-called homme de Menton, now in the Natural History Museum, Paris. Here Rivière demonstrated the presence of deliberate burials and ornamented clothing in 1872. Later five skeletons in all were found at La Barma Grande, and two of children, in the Grotte des Enfants, whence its name.

Interest in archeology and ownership of one of the caverns (Grotte du Prince), led the Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I Grimaldi (1848-1922), to provide for a systematic exploration of the caverns: thus the fossils became known as "Grimaldi" in his honor. Fossil remains of these ancient Africans have also been found in France, Switzerland, Central Europe, Bulgaria, Russia, and as Far East as Siberia. The African Khoisan nature of the Fossils was first documented by Boule, Marcellin & Vallois, in their book "Fossil Men" The Dryden Press (1957). One of the most exciting Grimaldi finds of the 19th century, was made by a Spanish nobleman: Sr. Don Marcelino de Sautoula, on his estate on the northern coast of Spain. An amateur prehistorian, he partially excavated a cave on a hill called Altamira. He found stag, horse, bison bones, oyster shells, numerous implements and bone tools characteristic of the Magdalenian culture. Exploring deeper into the cave, he encountered cave bear bones and extensive ashes.

On one of his excavation trips, he took his 12-year-old daughter, Maria, with him into the cave. While he sat digging in damp darkness under the light of a lantern, the girl suddenly cried out, "Papa, papa. Mira. Toros pintados." (Father, father, Look Painted bulls.) Maria showed her astonished father that the roof of the cavern was covered with a superb fresco of red and black bison. Lantern light gave them three-dimensional form since the artist had incorporated the natural projections of the ceiling with great skill into his art. Sautuola was deeply moved as he and his daughter explored the cavern roof and saw marvelous polychrome animals, executed in three-dimensional skill, all painted by an artist who had known the animals before they became extinct from Spain in the distant past. Grimaldi Man's Cave Art - Historical Description The first Homo sapiens (Grimaldi man) arrived by small groups in northern Spain around 45,000 - 35,000 BP.

They cohabited for a time with the last of the Neanderthals, and then developed a significant culture known as paleolithic cave art which developed across Europe, from the Urals to the Iberian Peninusula, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC. Because of their deep galleries, isolated from external climatic influences, these caves are particularly well preserved. The caves are inscribed as masterpieces of creative genius and as the humanity’s earliest accomplished art. The last Ice Age then began to make its influence felt, ending in around 18,000 BP. During this period cave art developed in the eastern part of Cantabria, producing an individual style (Altamira, La Peña del Candamo, El Castillo, Las Pasiega, El Pendo, La Garma, Chufin and El Pendo). The artistic apogee, known as Magdalenian, corresponds to the end of the Ice Age, from 17,000 to 13,000 BP. This was the period of the major works in the decorated caves, with a great variety of motifs and techniques of representation.

This was one of the key moments of the history of art, as seen for example in the polychrome figures of Altamira and El Castillo, the combination of engraving and painting, the use of the rock forms themselves, and realistic detail in the animal figures in most of the nominated caves. From 13,000 to 10,000 BP, the climate became warmer (Holocene), causing a profound transformation in human lifestyles, together with a decline in cave art. Las Monedas is an example of late cave art, and there is no evidence of cave art later than 11,000 BP. Chauvet Cave The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in the Ardèche department of southern France is a cave that contains some of the earliest known cave paintings, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the Ardèche River, in the Gorges de l'Ardèche. Discovered on December 18, 1994, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites.

The dates have been a matter of dispute but a study published in 2012 supports placing the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 30,000–32,000 BP. Based on radiocarbon dating, the cave appears to have been used by humans during two distinct periods: the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. Most of the artwork dates to the earlier, Aurignacian, era (30,000 to 32,000 years ago). The later Gravettian occupation, which occurred 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, left little but a child's footprints and other trivial things. Cosquer cave The Cosquer cave is an underwater cave, it is located in the Calanque de Morgiou in Marseille, France, not very far from Cap Morgiou. The entrance to the cave is located 37 m (121 ft) underwater, due to the rise of the Mediterranean in Paleolithic times.

It was discovered by diver Henri Cosquer in 1985, but its contents were not made public until 1991, when three divers became lost in the cave and died. Four-fifths of the cave, including any art on its walls, was submerged and obliterated by the rising sea. 150 instances of cave art remain including several dozen painting and carvings dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to two different phases of occupation of the cave: Older drawings consisting of 65 hand stencils and other related motifs, dating to 27,000 years BP (the Gravettian Era). Newer drawings of signs and 177 animal drawings dating to 19,000 years BP (the Solutrean Era), representing both "classical" animals such as bison, ibex, and horses, but also marine animals such as seals and what appear to be auks and jellyfish. Altamira cave Altamira is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave paintings featuring drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals and human hands.

Its special relevance comes from the fact that it was the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings had been discovered. When the discovery was first made public in 1880, it led to a bitter public controversy between experts which continued into the early 20th century, as many of them did not believe prehistoric man had the intellectual capacity to produce any kind of artistic expression. The acknowledgement of the authenticity of the paintings, which finally came in 1902, changed forever the perception of prehistoric human beings. It is located near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, 30 km west of the city of Santander. Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of artifacts from the Upper Solutrean (c. 18,500 years ago) and Lower Magdalenean (between c. 16,500 and 14,000 years ago). Both periods belong to the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. In the millennia between these two occupations, the cave was evidently inhabited only by wild animals.

Don Marcelino was later to explore chamber after chamber of extraordinary drawings: polychrome horses in flight, painted prints of human hands, outlines of human hands. Here again was extraordinary evidence of the humanness and artistic skills of these Paleolithic Grimaldi artists. Don Marcelino hired a French painter to make sketches of the artwork so that he could publish them. This well-written paper, An Account of Certain Prehistoric Discoveries in the Province of Santander (1880), included the paintings and a detailed description of the archeology of the cave. Just as exciting as the fossil finds, were the artifact finds at the Balzi Rossi, or Red Rocks (also known as the Grimaldi Caves), were Louis Alexandre Jullien, carried out the excavations that led, at the end of the last century, to the discovery of fifteen figurines, called the Balzi Rossi Venuses. Many other sites across Europe and Asia have also produced Grimaldi Venuses: many of them Steatopygia Females, and many of normal proportion females. Notable of these are the Venus of Willendorf: found near Krems, Austria. The Venus of Brassempouy, found in France in 1892.

It should be noted; that though all Grimaldi figures are not of Steatopygia Females, that style of figure, is the signature of Grimaldi. As demonstrated by the Venuses, Bust reproductions of Skulls, and other artifacts: The Grimaldi people, like modern day Africans, show great variation in facial features, hair styles, clothing and adornment. They show a particular liking for bracelets, necklaces, and pendants. When Grimaldi Man entered Europe, he encountered the Humanoid, Neanderthal man: who had migrated to Europe thousands of years earlier, and had become physically adapted to the cold. Grimaldi was followed into Europe: perhaps 15,000 years later, by the Humanoid Cro-Magnon man. Nothing is known of their relationships, or even if they intermingled. But it is generally believed that at some point, there had to have been some crossbreeding. Thought Grimaldi Man is known to have established settlements as far south as Catal Huyuk in Anatolia.

There is uncertainty as to whether it was Grimaldi descendants, or a different group, such as those Africans who settled North Africa and the Middle East, that can be credited with the creation of the original Southern European civilizations, especially those in Italy, Greece, and Anatolia (modern Turkey). 1000+ images about Khoisan tribe...my ancestors on Pinterest | Statue of, Woman photography and World history Forward Steatopygia is a genetic characteristic of the Khoisan and some Bantu peoples. It is especially prevalent in women, but also occurs to a lesser degree in men. In most populations of Homo sapiens, females are more likely than men to accumulate adipose tissue in the buttock region. It has also been observed among the Pygmies of Central Africa and the Onge-tribe of the Andaman Islands. Among the Khoisan, it is regarded as a sign of beauty. See More Human Differentiation: Evolution of Racial Characteristics Evolution of Racial Characteristics Migration and Differentiation of Modern Humans The original Homo sapiens environment in eastern sub-Saharan Africa consisted of tropical and equatorial forests, savannahs, and riverine settings that suited their hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Over thousands of years, evolution had optimized their physical characteristics for sustained occupation of their surroundings. Their range extended from latitude 20 deg North to 35 deg South. Their heads tended to be elongated, to better support heat dissipation, and their skin, eye and hair color was likely dark, to protect against relatively high levels of UV radiation. A global cooling trend that began about 130,000 years ago caused average temperatures to drop from about 10 deg F higher than current levels to about 15 deg F lower than current levels by 70,000 years ago. During the last glacial maximum, 26,000 to 19,000 years ago, ice sheets covered much of northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Elsewhere during that period there were numerous mountain glaciers. A global warming trend that began about 18,000 years ago caused glaciers to recede and brought temperatures close to current levels by 10,500 years ago. These long-term worldwide climate changes affected humidity, vegetation, sea levels and coastlines, and the distribution and abundance of animal prey.

When environmental changes caused some Homo sapiens populations to migrate away from Africa, they encountered new environments and adapted their lifestyles to suit their new-found circumstances. Expanding populations tended to maintain contact with groups they had moved away from, through tribal or family connections or for access to known resources, for example chert, flint, and certain types of wood. Over tens of thousands of years, Homo sapiens traveled tens of thousands of miles and moved into habitats ranging from arid to rain forest, from sweltering hot to frigid, from sea-level to highly elevated, and from plain to mountainous. The vast distances covered, and the encounter of physical barriers that once surmounted were unlikely to be crossed again, sometimes resulted in the practical isolation of populations. Some populations were isolated sufficiently long in their new habitats to develop inheritable characteristics that distinguished their members from those of different provenance. Certain evolutionary trends were adaptations to the general environment. For example, in general, body size increased with decreasing ambient temperature, and skin darkness decreased with increasing latitude. Other evolutionary trends were driven by local conditions, such as humidity and winds, and by prevalent infectious diseases. Sustained reproductive isolation of human populations exposed to differing environments led over time to the evolution of distinct human races.

The Homo sapiens species came to comprise a number of races, differentiated natural human populations. The area within which a race evolved is its ecosphere. The borders of an ecosphere are either barriers of a physical type, such as seas or mountains, or zones where there is a change in environment, such as a transition from arable land to desert. Australian Aborigines and Papuans Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands are the ecosphere of the Australian Aborigine and Papuan race. Before the end of the last glacial period, 19,000 years ago, New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania were part of the same land mass and had similar animal and plant populations. Humans passed through New Guinea and settled there on their way to Australia. Homo sapiens reached Australia about 50,000 years ago, when the expansion of glaciers caused a lowering of sea levels and narrowed the gap between southeast Asia and the New Guinea-Australia land mass. Bands of humans expanded throughout the Australian continent and what is now Tasmania but settled mostly on the eastern regions of Australia.

Australia and New Guinea became isolated from mainland Asia due to rising sea levels since the end of the last glacial maximum 19,000 years ago. The land bridges linking Australia to New Guinea and nearby lands began to be submerged about 13,000 years ago. By 6,000 years ago the Torres Straits reached close to the present configuration. About 2,000 B.C., seafaring populations from East Asia reached New Guinea and some settled coastal regions that had previously been inhabited only by aboriginal Papuan peoples. Spanish and Portuguese explorers first reached New Guinea in the early sixteenth century. Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed in Queensland, Australia, in 1606 A.D. Australian Aborigines are commonly of fair stature, with well-developed torso and arms, and slender legs. The color of the skin is a shade of chocolate-brown or black, and the eyes are very dark brown or black. The hair is usually raven-black, not woolly, but fine and silky in texture, wavy, and long. The beard in males is well developed, as is the hair upon the body and the eyebrows. Male pattern balding is relatively common.

Most Australian Aborigines (61 per cent) have blood type O. The Australian Aborigines are typically dolichocephalic (narrow-headed), their cranial index (per cent ratio of cranial breadth to length) rarely exceeding 75 or 76. The brow-ridges are strong and prominent. The skull shape, looked from behind (norma occipitalis) is often sharply pentagonal. The nose is broad, the jaws are heavy, and the lips thick. Looked from the side (norma lateralis) the face tends to prognatism. Aboriginal Papuans, descendants of the humans that first settled New Guinea, are racially similar to Australian Aborigines. Papuans typically have curly and sometimes wooly hair rather than the wavy hair typical of Australian Aborigines. Australian Aborigine and Papuan populations diverged genetically and culturally during several thousand years of geographical separation. Unlike Australian Aborigines, who were strictly hunter-gatherers, aboriginal Papuans practiced agriculture. Their somewhat lower stature may result from lower protein intake or from adaptation to a more humid environment with greater vegetation cover than the desert-dwelling Australians.

Papuans speak many different native languages which are distinct from Asian and Polynesian languages. Papuan languages spoken in the New Guinea highlands have lexical similarities to reconstructed proto-Australian, indicating enduring similarities despite 6,000 to 8,000 years of geographical separation. American Indians (Native Americans) North America, South America, and the Caribbean islands are the ecosphere of the American Indian race. About 20,000 years ago, glaciers forming in the northern hemisphere locked up so much water that the ocean levels became 300 feet lower than today. A land bridge closed the Bering Strait, forming a land passage between northern Asia and America. The asiatic ancestors of American Indians first migrated from Siberia to Alaska about 14,000 or 15,000 years ago . The passage existed until about 10,500 years ago, when temperatures reached current levels and the Bering connection was severed by rising sea levels. Following their initial migration to North American territories, early American Indians traveled to and settled Central America and the Caribbean islands. They began to settle in South America by 12,500 years ago.

The isolation of American Indians persisted until Europeans reached America in 1492, when a Spanish expedition led by Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas. The term Indian as applied to original peoples of the Americas came about because Columbus was attempting to reach the Far East when he discovered America. At the time, European ideas of how the peoples of Asia and India looked like were vague. Columbus assumed that he had reached the Indies mentioned by Marco Polo in the accounts of his travels and he named the natives Indians. By the time Europeans figured out that America was not the Far East the name Indian was in common use and it remained the standard term. To avoid confusion with the peoples of the Indian subcontinent, the term American Indian is used. American Indians have reddish-brown skin. The hair is dark brown or black, lank, with circular cross section. Body and facial hair are typically sparse. Male pattern baldness is rare. The eyes are dark brown or black. The nose is typically long and narrow. The head shape is typically dolichocephalic. Most American Indians (91 per cent) have blood type O. The front teeth (incisors) of American Indians often display a characteristic shovel shape.

Pacific Islanders Polynesia, a group of over 1,000 islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean, is the ecosphere of the Pacific Islander race. Geographically, Polynesia is a triangle with its three corners at Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island. Polynesia includes Samoa, Tonga, the Marquesas, the Solomons, French Polynesia, and other island groups located within the Polynesian triangle. About 2,500 B.C., seafaring peoples from East Asia (principally Taiwan) traveled to Indonesia, New Guinea, and islands in the western South Pacific. Later, they migrated by large canoes to islands east of New Guinea and reached Samoa about 1,500 B.C. Continuing their seafaring ways, they reached Hawaii by 100 A.D., New Zealand by 800 A.D., and Easter Island by 1,000 A.D. Pacific island peoples traveled within the island groups by canoes using a range of navigational techniques, including a form of celestial navigation, the movement of ocean currents, and wave patterns.

They derived sustenance from fishing, land animals, and from fruits and vegetables grown in island gardens. Over time, their isolation from others and adaptation to their environment led to the evolution of distinct Pacific Islander racial characteristics. Pacific Islanders have skin of various shades of brown. The eyes are dark brown or black, with some obliquity and incidence of epicanthal fold. The nose is usually short and the hair is black, lank, and long. Pacific Islanders are mostly dolichocephalic, but some have mesocephalic (medium) or brachycephalic (wide) skull proportions. The most common blood types in Pacific Islanders are A (50 per cent) and O (42 per cent). Blacks (Sub-Saharan Africans) Sub-Saharan Africa is the ecosphere of the Black race. Although Africa is the original Homo sapiens environment, the present black population is the result of many thousands of years of natural selection in changing environments. There were several migrations across Africa. The early Homo sapiens migrations out of Africa, over time, were followed by population movements from Europe and Asia back and forth to Africa. But the Saharan desert presented a difficult obstacle, and the sub-Saharan population remained for the most part isolated.

Having originated from the initial human population, it is also the most diverse. Blacks are, except for pygmies, typically of fair stature, and the body and limbs slender. Pygmies are a subrace in central Africa where adult males grow to less than 4 feet 11 inches in average height. In Blacks, the skin is of various shades of brown to black. The primary determinant of skin color is the amount, density and distribution of the pigment melanin, which is associated with environmental factors varying with latitude. Dark skin offers protection from harmful UV radiation. The percentage of light reflected from black or dark brown skin varies from 12 to 42 per cent, whereas it rises to 55 to 72 per cent for white or tan skin. Blacks have dark brown or black eyes. The hair is black, short and crisp or woolly, kinky, with flat elliptical cross section. In males, the beard and body-hair are usually scanty. Blacks are typically dolichocephalic. Brow ridges are rarely prominent. The norma occipitalis is often pentagonal. In side view, the face tends to prognathism.

The nose is flat as well as broad, and the lips are thick and projecting. The majority of Blacks (54 per cent) have blood type O. Steatopygia, a high degree of fat accumulation on the buttocks, is most common in native southern African populations. This distinctive characteristic, most noted in females, appears to be an adaptation to varying cyclic nutritional opportunities for hunter-gatherers. The front teeth (incisors) of Blacks often display a characteristic flat, spatulate shape. Whites (Caucasians) Europe, the Near East and North Africa are the ecosphere of the White race. By about 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens populations began moving northward into southeastern Europe from the Middle East. The area they moved into was cold and forested. These Homo sapiens populations were followed by later migrations out of western Asia. The Cro-Magnons reached western Europe about 35,000 years ago. Although there were subsequent back-and-forth migrations, physical boundaries tended to isolate the populations that evolved into the White race.

The Arctic to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Sahara desert and the Arabian Sea to the south, and the Indus River, the Sind desert, and the Ural mountains to the east, presented difficult geographic obstacles. Whites tend to be of relatively tall stature. They have white or tan skin. The tan on some can be quite dark. The eyes are black, brown, blue, green, hazel or grey. Light-colored irises seem to have evolved in response to relatively dim daylight conditions particularly prevalent in forested areas of northern Europe. Light-colored skin is an adaptation to higher latitudes, favoring low levels of melanin pigmentation for prevalent low levels of UV radiation, to improve Vitamin D synthesis in the absence of brilliant sunlight. In Whites, the hair is black, brown, blond, or red, straight, wavy or curly, and of oval cross-section. In males, the beard is abundant. Male pattern baldness is relatively common. In Whites, the nose tends to be long and narrow. The skull presents all varieties of forms and can be dolichocephalic, mesocephalic, or brachycephalic. In side view, the face tends to orthognathism.

The blood type of most Whites is A (44 per cent) or O (40 per cent). The front teeth (incisors) of Whites often display a characteristic flat, spatulate shape. The breakdown and absorption of lactose, the major sugar in milk, requires the enzyme lactase. Although babies are normally capable of producing lactase in sufficient amounts, more than 80 per cent of non-White humans lose this ability after about age two. Lactose-intolerant adults can suffer from abdominal cramps and diarrhea when they drink more than a little milk. Lactose tolerance apparently evolved in Whites as an adaptation permitting adult consumption of milk following the domestication of cattle about 6,000 B.C. Dravidians (Indians) India is the ecosphere of the Dravidian race. Around 60,000 years ago, Homo sapiens populations in the Middle East and southwestern Asia migrated to India. Some continued to southeast Asia, and some stayed. There were subsequent population movements back and forth from the west and east. The Himalayan Mountains separate the Indian subcontinent from north central Asia, so migration to and from the north was limited.

The Indus River and the Sind desert present natural obstacles to the west, and the Arakan Mountains impede travel between the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. The relative isolation led, over time, to the emergence of distinct Dravidian racial characteristics. Dark-skinned indigenous peoples of India were for the most part isolated since about 6,000 B.C. The Harappan civilization flourished in the Indus valley from about 3,100 B.C. to 1,900 B.C. About 1,500 B.C., Indo-European tribes from central Asia overran northern India. These Aryan invaders formed a ruling class that was mostly assimilated into the indigenous population by about 500 B.C., during the Vedic period. In 326 B.C., Alexander the Great led his armies across the Indus River and invaded northwestern India. The Macedonian occupation was brief. It left its imprint on the northern regions of India, but did not extend to the south. Dravidians tend to be of relatively tall stature. Their skin ranges from brown to almost black. Eyes are dark brown or black.

Dravidians generally possess a dolichocephalic head with a long, narrow face and well-developed forehead. Hair is black or dark brown, straight or wavy, long. The nose is straight, long and narrow. The most prevalent blood types among Dravidians are O (37 per cent) and B (33 per cent). Asians China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and the American Arctic are the ecosphere of the Asian race. Homo sapiens bands moved into southern Asia from the Caucasus region beginning about 50,000 years ago. Subsequent migrations reached northeastern Asia by 30,000 years ago. The range of the Asian race is an area which lies mainly to the east of a line drawn from the Ural Mountains to Burma. The Ural Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert present natural barriers to the west, and the Himalayas to the south. The eastern boundary is the Pacific Ocean. In the southeast region, the natural obstacles are the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. The Arakan Mountains separate the southeast Asians from the Indian subcontinent. There are four main Asian subraces: Yellow (Han Chinese), Mongols, Southeast Asian, and Eskimo.

Asians tend to be short in stature, but this may be at least in part due to nutrition. The skin is yellow or yellow-brown. The yellow skin likely evolved as an adaptation to cold temperatures in northern Asia. The yellow color results from a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, visible through translucent outer layers of skin. In Asians, the nose is flat and small. The eyes have an epicanthal fold and are black or dark brown. The epicanthal fold is a fold of skin that covers the inner corner of the eye, giving Asians a characteristic narrow, almond-shaped eye shape. This adaptation probably evolved as protection against cold and windy conditions in northern Asia. The absence of the epicanthal fold in American Indian populations suggests this characteristic evolved after the Bering connection to America was severed about 10,500 years ago. Eskimos are Asians related to native inhabitants of eastern Siberia. They first migrated, using small boats, to polar regions of North America about 6,000 B.C. They later reached Greenland. Unlike American Indians, Eskimos (Inuit and Yupik) have the epicanthal fold.

Asians have black, straight, hair, scanty on the body and face, but long on the scalp. In cross section, Asian hair is circular. Male pattern baldness is relatively rare. The head is brachycephalic or mesocephalic, the skull usually devoid of prominent brow ridges. The most prevalent Asian blood types are O (38 per cent) and B (30 per cent). The front teeth (incisors) of Asians often display a characteristic shovel shape. Comparison of Typical Racial Characteristics There is a broad variation of features within each of the human races, but a comparison of typical racial characteristics indicates some salient racial differences. Skin color, and hair and eye characteristics are principal visible differential traits. Comparison of Physical Characteristics Black, lank, long, circular section Epicanthal fold, black O (38), A (24), B (30), AB (8) There are, as well, invisible distinguishing attibutes. For example, the particular shape in cross section of human hair can only be seen and compared with the aid of a microscope. Blood typing requires taking blood samples and using special equipment to classify the samples.

The study of particular bone configurations can only be done by examining skeletons post mortem. Blood types B and AB are absent from Australian Aborigines and American Indians, and only in Dravidians and Asians does blood type AB occur in more than 5 per cent of the population. Some skeletal characteristics tend to differ among the human races. Among Blacks, the femur is often straight, whereas in Asians and Whites the femur often displays a slight anterior curvature. In Blacks, the forward tip of the mandible (the chin) is typically blunt; it is typically rounded in Asians, and pointed in Whites. Jaws are relatively larger in Blacks and Asians, and smaller in Whites. The dental arch is usually rounded in Asians, parabolic in Whites, and rectangular (hyperbolic) in Blacks. In the skull, the nose area, eye orbits, and brow ridges typically show significant racial differences. The eye orbits of Blacks tend to be of a more rectangular shape. Eye orbits of Whites are typically more angular, and eye orbits of Asians and American Indians more rounded. Whites typically have heavy brow ridges; Asians and Blacks have small brow ridges. Australian Aborigines and Aboriginal Papuans have heavy and prominent brow ridges.

There are five distinguishing characteristics of the nose area of the skull. The root is the uppermost part of the nose, where the nasals connect to the frontal bone above. The bridge is the structure formed by the nasal bones, extending downward from the root. The spine is a bone projection at the midline bottom of the nasal opening and the front of the upper jaw bones (anterior maxillae). The nasal opening is the aperture at the front center of the skull below the eye orbits, below the bridge and above the spine and lower border. The lower border is the area at the bottom of the nasal opening, to the sides of the midline. Medium Flat, sharp Racial characteristics such as height, iris color, and skin color are polygenic traits, that is, they are influenced by several genes. Racial attributes map to sets of inheritable characteristics and are regulated by genes in different areas of the human genome. For example, hair color has been linked to genes in chromosomes 4, 15, and 16; skin color to genes in chromosomes 5, 9, 13, and 15; and blood type to genes in chromosome 9.

Some invisible racial characteristics affect physical performance; others are associated with resistance or propensity to diseases and medical conditions such as hypertension, lactose intolerance, and sickle cell anemia. The effect of racial characteristics on human performance is not so marked that it is apparent in the general population. Except due to individual handicaps, all human beings can master complicated skills such as driving an automobile. Being members of the same species, all humans share basic abilities and characteristics. But at the limit of performance, small physical differences can have a measurable effect. The following table shows results of competitive performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics for a representative set of sports. Only individual competitions are shown, to diminish the effect of coaching and national resources on the performance comparison. Results for women are similar to the men�s results shown. 2008 Summer Olympics Results � Men�s Individual Competitions Sport Asian The data suggest that, at the limit of human performance achieved by top athletes, some racial caracteristics confer competitive advantages for certain sports. For example, at the 2008 Olympic Games, Blacks dominated short-distance races and did well in the longer track trials.

Chronology and Pattern of Human Differentiation Inferences about the chronology and progress of human differentiation can be made from anthropological and historical records, and from taxonomy, genetics and linguistics, with varying degrees of certainty. The timing and nature of major human migrations can be estimated, and although many secondary back and forth movements also occurred, it is possible to identify principal population flows. As populations occupied new environments, beneficial mutations were preserved because they aided survival. Diverging changes in population traits accumulated, over time resulting in the different human races. It is well established that anatomically modern humans inhabited sub-Saharan Africa 80,000 years ago. The physical record indicates that by 50,000 years ago modern humans had reached Australia, which implies that migration from the African continent must have begun substantially earlier than that. It is reasonable to assume that the earliest migrations out of Africa involved northeastern populations closest to Asia, and that those least likely to migrate inhabited southwestern areas of the continent. Over time, migrations within Africa and back and forth between Africa and other regions and subsequent relative isolation brought about adaptations resulting in the Black race. It appears that climate limitations, in particular extreme cold temperatures, blocked human migrations to Europe and northern Asia for many thousands of years.

It was not until about 30,000 or 35,000 years ago that humans moved into northern Europe and northeastern Asia. These migrations lead to a divergence between northeastern Asian populations and the inhabitants of Europe and western Asia. Relative isolation and adaptation to different environments ultimately lead to the Asian and White races. The closing of the Bering Strait about 15,000 years ago allowed Siberian populations to cross over to the American continent. Subsequent separation from Asia lead to differentiation into the American Indian race. Later, about 4,500 years ago, peoples from East Asia began migrating by sea to the islands of the southwestern Pacific, eventually developing into the Pacific Islander race. Modern humans reached the Indian subcontinent early in the migrations from Africa. Subsequent population movements from the west and the east gave Dravidians a mixture of east and west Asian characteristics. About 3,500 years ago, Aryan invaders moved into northern India, and in 326 B.C. Macedonian Greeks invaded northwestern India. These later influences primarily affected characteristics of northwest Indian populations.

Linguistic Comparison In the last five centuries, the discovery of America, the circumnavigation of the Earth by European explorers, and the subsequent widespread progress in communications, trade and travel, have resulted in the breakdown of barriers separating many different peoples of the world. One effect of these changes has been the adoption of the languages of European powers by the populations of the territories they colonized, and a reduction, through disuse, of the total number of presently spoken languages. Most languages currently in use are spoken by a relatively small number of people. Only about 300 languages are spoken by more than a million. There presently are about 6,000 different languages spoken in the world. Languages can be classified in terms of characteristics such as phonology, morphology and syntax into language families. The different languages can be grouped into about 250 language families. Representative language families and their number of speakers are listed in the following table. Representative Language Families Austronesian (Polynesian) Mixed Race Populations Mixed race populations occur when individuals from different races occupy the same ecosphere and intermarry. A significant portion of the current world population is of mixed race.

In Mexico, and in some countries in Central America and South America, a majority of the current population is of mixed race, or mestizo, of part White and part American Indian origin. In Asia, a minority of the population is Eurasian, of part White and part Asian origin. Northwestern areas of the Indian subcontinent have peoples of part White and part Dravidian origin. In Europe, Africa, the United States, Brazil, and some countries in the Caribbean, there are significant mixed race populations of part White and part Black origin. Negritos In the sixteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese merchant-explorers first encountered characteristically short, dark skinned peoples in southeast Asia which they called Negritos (little blacks). Negritos are tribal peoples inhabiting certain small islands and coastal areas, from India to the Philippines. They have black to dark brown skin, broad short noses, wooly black hair, and dark irises. Adult males are less than 5 feet tall and females are shorter still. They are descended in part from Africans that settled on coastal regions of southeast Asia 70,000 to 50,000 years ago, at a time when sea levels were hundreds of feet lower than today.

Global climate changes between 19,000 and 13,000 years ago, associated with the current interglacial, resulted in sea level rises to about current levels. Early southeast Asian seaside populations mostly retreated overland to higher grounds in the interior of India, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and nearby regions. But some groups were isolated in small islands without ready access to the mainland. Over time, evolutionary pressures in their constrained environments led to a marked reduction in body size through a natural selection process called island dwarfism. Significant isolation continues to the present day in places like the Nicobar and Andaman islands, but in most areas there has been some interbreeding between Negritos and neighboring peoples. Currently, Negritos retain their dark skin and short stature but display admixtures of other traits inherited from Dravidians and Asians. Composition of World Populations The geographic expansion of humans has been accompanied by a dramatic growth in total numbers.

From a total population of about 5 million in 10,000 B.C., the population grew to 233 million by 27 B.C., when Octavian took on the name Augustus and became the first Roman Emperor, and to 477 million by 1492 A.D., when Christopher Columbus discovered America. Worldwide colonization, the industrial revolution, and mechanized agriculture led to further increases in population. The total world human population in 2012 is about 7,000 million (7 billion). The largest population concentrations are in eastern Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Europe. The composition and geographic origin of world populations is as shown in the following table. Composition of World Populations

Question: In humans, steatopygia is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around which part of the body?
Answer: Buttocks