Somali Phenotype

[Finesse]

Would someone be so kind as to explain what our phenotype tends to be and how it came about?

Most Somalis tend to be tall/slender with elongated features and high foreheads

I have noticed, that in some areas, people are shorter, stouter with more rounded features. For instance, people who live in more fertile areas in Somalia.

Is this due to diet? Climates?

 

[Apollo]

Phenotype is determined by genetics mostly. Environment only has some minor influence like on your height (childhood nutrition) and perhaps that one is tanned or untanned depending on location (global north vs tropics), but nothing more than that really (excluding use of cosmetics).

 

[land owner]

Phenotype is determined by genetics mostly. Environment only has some minor influence like on your height (childhood nutrition) and perhaps that one is tanned or untanned depending on location (global north vs tropics), but nothing more than that really (excluding use of cosmetics).

I thought our tall and slender phenotype came mainly from our proto nilo ancestors that developed in the semi arid savannas, are you referring to racial phenotype or current individual physical traits?

 

[Pseudo-A'staramaia]

I thought our tall and slender phenotype came mainly from our proto nilo ancestors that developed in the semi arid savannas, are you referring to racial phenotype or current individual physical traits?

Our non-Eurasian ancestry isn't proto-Nilote, as we don't have Nilotic ancestors. Our Ancestral East African is not a actual component, and it does not represent any actual ancestral population. Once you look closer, you see it that it was never a single population, but represents several layers of admixture from several different populations through tens of thousands of years that is now grouped together simply because people don't care much about non-Eurasian DNA. It should only be taken to mean "non-Eurasian"

AEA as a sham component would support the diversity of Somali mtdna, one of the most diverse in the world. Our mtdna has relatively equal levels of M, L2, L0, and N. Only L4, L1, and particularly L6 are rare in Somalis

About our height and build, evolution isn't a one time thing, and populations are always having new traits introduced and selected. It has been around 4,000 years since we had any significant injection of non-Cushitic admixture. But I would point out that Somalis are very similar in build and crania to proto-Egyptian Naqadans, and are probably not even far from the paleolithic Ibermaurusian of Northwest Africa

Antithetical to what people here love to state as fact - Somalis and Cushitic peoples are not the result of Natufians + Nilotes. The Natufians had very different ydna from us, and their mtdna was not as similar. They were a local Levant/Mesopotamian HG population that had admixed with a wave of migrating northeast African HG's. We may have ancestry from them, but since M1 is the largest Eurasian mtdna we have, it makes more sense that our Eurasian ancestry was in Africa long prior to the Natufians, and is shared with the Ibermaurusians. The Natufians also had mtdna L2, so it probably wasn't only paternal northeast African ancestry that they had

It makes sense that Somali phenotype was heavily impacted by selection. The South Cushites were probably lighter than us. A a half-Nilote, half-Arab population would probably be lighter than us, since most half-South Sudanese don't resemble Somalis at all, but alot of fine featured Nilotes and blacker skinned South Arabians tend to

 

[Apollo]

Our non-Eurasian ancestry isn't proto-Nilote, as we don't have Nilotic ancestors. Our Ancestral East African is not a actual component, and it does not represent any actual ancestral population. Once you look closer, you see it that it was never a single population, but represents several layers of admixture from several different populations through tens of thousands of years that is now grouped together simply because people don't care much about non-Eurasian DNA. It should only be taken to mean "non-Eurasian"

It mostly derives from the region of Sudan, so his usage of proto-Nilote is largely correct. It may be a mixture of various deeper components, but the majority of the Sub-Saharan African component in Somalis ultimately mostly stems from Nilo-Saharan-like populations from Sudan.

It is also phylogenetically and even autosomally very different from the Paleo-Somali component that was acquired later on by proto-Somalis when they migrated into Somalia from Northeast Sudan/West Eritrea. Soon a Paleo-Somali sample will be sequenced and you will see for yourself.

It makes sense that Somali phenotype was heavily impacted by selection. The South Cushites were probably lighter than us. A a half-Nilote, half-Arab population would probably be lighter than us, since most half-South Sudanese don't resemble Somalis at all, but alot of fine featured Nilotes and blacker skinned South Arabians tend to

The Nilotic South Sudanese have 20-30% more West-Central African ancestry than the proto-Nilote component (yes, usage of this term is correct) found in Somalis. So they are *not* representative of that element.

And most ''fine featured'' Nilotes have clear Cushitic admixture, so that doesn't count. As for dark skinned South Semitic Arabians like the Soqotri, they have absolutely nothing to do with Cushites really and are just a bunch of inbred Arabians/Semites living on a small island affected by a strong founder effect.

 

[pablo]

Gods favourites

 

[saredochani10]

It mostly derives from the region of Sudan, so his usage of proto-Nilote is largely correct. It may be a mixture of various deeper components, but the majority of the Sub-Saharan African component in Somalis ultimately mostly stems from Nilo-Saharan-like populations from Sudan.

It is also phylogenetically and even autosomally very different from the Paleo-Somali component that was acquired later on by proto-Somalis when they migrated into Somalia from Northeast Sudan/West Eritrea. Soon a Paleo-Somali sample will be sequenced and you will see for yourself.



The Nilotic South Sudanese have 20-30% more West-Central African ancestry than the proto-Nilote component (yes, usage of this term is correct) found in Somalis. So they are *not* representative of that element.

And most ''fine featured'' Nilotes have clear Cushitic admixture, so that doesn't count. As for dark skinned South Semitic Arabians like the Soqotri, they have absolutely nothing to do with Cushites really and are just a bunch of inbred Arabians/Semites living on a small island affected by a strong founder effect.

@Apollo you seem very educated in this subject. Did you study this in Uni or just read a lot about it ?

 

[Apollo]

@Apollo you seem very educated in this subject. Did you study this in Uni or just read a lot about it ?

Self-taught, it's quite easy. I just read population genetics journals over the years.

 

[CaliTedesse]

Its obvious proto Nilote slender tall built

 

[EDsomali]

It's due to our ancestry.

 

[World]

Its obvious proto Nilote slender tall built

Somalis are skinnier than nilo saharans.

It could be because of our proto horner ancestry and we selected further for it.

 

[Somalinimo]

Apparently we're:

Dark reddish-brown skin, curly to tight-curly hair. (Rather) tall, brachyskelic, ectomorph. Dolichocephalic, orthocranic. (Hyper-)leptorrhine and high, straight or convex nose - the narrowest of Sub-Saharan Africa. Face long and oval with gracile, soft features, jaw very narrow, large eyes with full lips. Body hair is scarce, the occiput round, prognathism is absent.