Brit-Am Anthropology and DNA Update (19 May, 2015, 1 Sivan, 5775)
Contents:
1. Ashkenazi Jews descend from 350 people, scientists say
2. Notes of Interest on Red Hair
(1) Not Only Ashkenazi Jews but Sephardim as well have red hair! Caused by defective nutrition?
(2) 2000 year old Jewish Tomb Finds with red hair
(3) Thracians had Red Hair!
(4]) Heroes of Homer had red hair!
(5) Ireland has the most red hair! Scotland in 2nd place
(6) Red Hair in Norway traced to Descendants of Niall from Ireland!
(7) Did Nazis forbid redheads to marry each other?
(8) Redheads are more likely to be left-handed
(9)Â Italian Churches in 1700s forbade redheads to marry?
3. How Many Americans Are Married To Their Cousins?
By Mona Chalabi
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1. Ashkenazi Jews descend from 350 people, scientists say
Geneticists have found serial bottlenecks in European Jews' history and postulate that today's community is just 600 to 800 years old.
By Ruth Schuster| Sep. 10, 2014 | 2:01 AM | ![[]](http://www.haaretz.com/images/icons/comment.png){kind=icon}
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http://www.haaretz.com/life/science-medicine/.premium-1.614893
Extracts:
There may be no such thing as a Jewish gene, but communities can definitely have defining characteristics, and one such community is Jews with roots in central and eastern Europe.
A model based on the genetic sequencing of 128 Ashkenazi Jews concludes that today's Ashkenazim descend from the fusion of European and Middle-Eastern Jews during the medieval era, between 600 to 800 years ago.
The math also indicates that today's sprawling community of Ashkenazi Jews, there are more than 10 million around the world, derived from just 350 people or so. That previously postulated population bottleneck, a drastic reduction in population size, Â occurred between 25 to 32 generations ago, the scientists say.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications by a team headed by Columbia University's Shai Carmi.
Unfortunately, Ashkenazim are also associated with no less than 19 genetic disorders, according to the Center for Jewish Genetics. Many are fatal and arise from single-gene mutations. The list includes forms of breast and ovarian cancer, Tay-Sachs disease and so-called maple syrup urine disease, in which the pee of affected children smells sweet.
Compared with Europeans in general, Ashkenazi Jews have a slightly greater deleterious mutation load, as it were. (Sephardi Jews have illnesses of their own, including the genetic disorder Wolman's disease and an allergy to fava beans, Â the ful so loved by non-allergic Israelis.)
A corollary is the so-called founder effect: When a new population is founded by a tiny group of individuals, all the offspring will have a reduced genetic variation.
Ashkenazi Jews with breast cancer and Sephardi Jews with fava intolerance are just two examples. Another is the Boer population in South Africa; it derives from a tiny founding group and has an unfortunate tendency to contract Huntington's disease.
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2. Notes of Interest on Red Hair
(1) Not Only Ashkenazi Jews but Sephardim as well have red hair! Caused by defective nutrition?
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090831160829AAtckVe
 Jacobs attributes the erythrism of the Jews to defective nutrition, and shows that it is present not only among the European Jews, but also among those in Algiers, Tunis, Bosnia, Constantinople, Smyrna, and Bokhara, where the presence of Aryan blood could not be admitted."
(2) 2000 year old Jewish Tomb Finds with red hair
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/the-only-ancient-jewish-hair-ever-found/
One of the more fascinating finds in this tomb, one that has not received much attention, was the preservation of a sample of Jewish male hair. The hair was lice-free, and was trimmed or cut evenly, probably indicating that the family buried in this tomb practiced good hygiene and grooming. The length of the hair was medium to short, averaging 3-4 inches. The color was reddish.
(3) Thracians had Red Hair!
http://www.badeagle.com/2010/01/12/king-david-was-a-red-head/
The Greek poet Xenophanes (ca. 570-475 BC) described the Thracian people as blue-eyed, with red hair, -
(4]) Heroes of Homer had red hair!
Homer's Iliad describes Menelaus and Achilles as red headed, but this is only 8th century BC. -
(5) Ireland has the most red hair! Scotland in 2nd place
http://www.eupedia.com/genetics/origins_of_red_hair.shtml
 Regardless of the definition, the frequency of red hair is highest in Ireland (10 to 30%) and Scotland (10 to 25%), followed by Wales (10 to 15%), Cornwall and western England, Brittany, the Franco-Belgian border, then western Switzerland, Jutland and southwest Norway. The southern and eastern boundaries, beyond which red hair only occurs in less than 1% of the population, are northern Spain, central Italy, Austria, western Bohemia, western Poland, Baltic countries and Finland.
Tacitus commented on the 'red hair and large limbs of the inhabitants of Caledonia', i.e. of Highland Scotland
(6) Red Hair in Norway traced to Descendants of Niall from Ireland!
http://www.eupedia.com/genetics/origins_of_red_hair.shtml
Southwest Norway may well be the clue to the origin of red hair. It has been discovered recently, thanks to genetic genealogy, that the higher incidence of both dark hair and red hair (as opposed to blond) in southwest Norway coincided with a higher percentage of the paternal lineage known as haplogroup R1b-L21, including its subclade R1b-M222, typical of northwestern Ireland and Scotland (the so-called lineage of Niall of the Nine Hostages). It is now almost certain that native Irish and Scottish Celts were taken (probably as slaves) to southwest Norway by the Vikings, and that they increased the frequency of red hair there.
(7) Did Nazis forbid redheads to marry each other?
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=101250
 "The Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning, and Sexual Power of Red Hair" by Marion Roach, which says in the blurb "Hitler banned intermarriage with redheads for fear of producing 'deviant offspring'" (see, e.g. Â
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/roots-of-desire-marion-roach/1103809036?ean=9781582343440&itm=1&usri=9781582343440
https://www.phactual.com/the-true-facts-about-redheads/
 In Nazi Germany, gingers were not allowed to marry each other just in case they produced 'deviant offspring.'
(8) Redheads are more likely to be left-handed
https://www.phactual.com/the-true-facts-about-redheads/
Redheads are more likely to be left-handed than the general population, thanks to the fact that many recessive genes come in pairs.
(9)Â Italian Churches in 1700s forbade redheads to marry?
https://jacksitaly.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/redheaded-italians-where-do-they-come-from/
 due to the opinion of the Catholic Church, it was illegal to marry a redhead in parts of Italy until the 18th century.
See Also:
Redheads in History
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3. How Many Americans Are Married To Their Cousins?
By Mona Chalabi
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-many-americans-are-married-to-their-cousins/
Extracts:
An estimated 0.2 percent of marriages in the United States are between individuals who are second cousins or closer, that means there are about 250,000 people in America in those relationships.
The first-cousin marriages you're asking about are just one type of consanguineous relationship (that's pronounced kon-sang-gwin-ee-uh s in case you were struggling, as I was). To assess consanguinity, researchers give relationships an inbreeding coefficient, Â the higher the number, the closer the two individuals are related. First cousins have an inbreeding coefficient of 0.0625. Anything at or above 0.0156, the coefficient for second cousins, is considered consanguineous; that includes relationships between people and their nephews and nieces.
Of the 70 countries studied, only 18 have consanguineous relationships as less than 1 percent of all marriages. In five countries, more than 50 percent of all marriages are between people who are second cousins or closer, and in Burkina Faso, it's estimated that two of every three marriages are consanguineous.
There are many reasons why marriages between relatives are favored in some parts of the world. Sociological studies have found that a relationship with a relative can be more stable because couples can maintain the same social relationships before and after marriage. Other reasons include health and financial security (the idea being that you're more likely to keep secrets hidden from a stranger than a relative) and, for women, the chance to stay closer to their parents and have a better relationship with in-laws. High global prevalence is in itself a reason to study consanguinity, about 10.4 percent of the world's population is married to a second cousin or closer, or is the product of such a union: That's about 750 million people.
Marriage between cousins wasn't always prohibited in America. From the 1860s, states began legislating on various aspects of marriage, including mental-capacity restrictions, statutory ages and anti-miscegenation laws. Bans on cousin marriage were introduced at the same time as part of a post-Civil War acceptance of the need for oversight, even in personal matters. Today, the practice is highly stigmatized, partly because of health concerns about children born to first cousins.
The prevalence of some recessive genetic diseases is higher in the offspring of couples who are related. In children born to first cousins, mortality rates are estimated to be about 3.5 percent higher. However, Bittles notes that most research has not controlled for factors such as maternal age and education, birth spacing and socioeconomic status, Â those may correlate with consanguinity and may also affect health outcomes.
And the consensus about health risks appears to be shifting. In 2002, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) published the findings of a task force set up to look specifically at the risks for offspring of first cousins. They estimated that health risks for those children were about 1.7 percent to 2.8 percent higher than for children born to unrelated parents. They concluded that, Â "There is a great deal of stigma associated with cousin unions in the United States and Canada that has little biological basis."